NEW DELHI: The routes to export oil out of the Middle East are diminishing. The price of energy is soaring. The Iranian-allied Houthis of Yemen captured a Red Sea island on September 11, giving them a perch to disrupt shipping in another critical waterway for shipping oil out of the Middle East.
The price of oil briefly jumped to about $110 per barrel, roughly 50 per cent above prewar levels. That gives Iran further leverage, as high energy prices pose a political risk for President Trump as his party heads into elections in the fall.
Oil exports from Saudi Arabia plunged last month to their lowest level in at least 13 years. Compounding its problems, a pipeline that carries oil to the kingdom’s Red Sea ports was temporarily shut down on September 12 after a drone attack from inside Iraqi territory, the Saudi energy ministry said.
For weeks, Iranian and Omani officials have been discussing a shared agreement for managing the Hormuz strait, though Iran has insisted that even such an agreement would not mean that the strait is fully reopened for shipping traffic.
