Oman oil escape route: How ship-to-ship transfers work — despite big risks
Oman’s Sohar port is becoming a popular spot for ship-to-ship oil transfers amid continued Hormuz blockade.
Saudi Arabia’s oil exports have been disrupted after Iran-aligned Houthis damaged its key East-West pipeline, which helped circumvent the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – a global oil chokepoint.
With the strait in effect closed and Bab al-Mandeb falling under Houthi control, Riyadh has been forced to find ways to export its oil. It is now increasingly offering crude to buyers through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman.
As commercial ships are increasingly refusing to pass through the strait due to the conflict, Saudi Arabia is transporting the crude to Oman’s Sohar port, located just outside the strait, where the oil is transferred from Saudi tankers to others.
Riyadh relied on the East-West 1,200km (746-mile) pipeline, which connects the kingdom’s main oil-producing fields in the east of the country with Yanbu port on the Red Sea coast in the west, to export oil.