Kuwait mulls halting Bab Al Mandeb oil exports

Kuwait City: Kuwait is studying whether to halt oil exports through Bab Al Mandeb strait, an oil official said, after Saudi Arabia said it was suspending all crude shipments through the Red Sea lane following an attack on two of its tankers.

“All options are possible but there is nothing confirmed so far,” Badr Al Khashti, chairman of Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC), told Reuters, adding no decision had been taken.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Al Houthi movement attacked two Saudi oil tankers on Wednesday.

The Bab Al Mandeb strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, is only 20km wide, making hundreds of ships potentially an easy target.