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11:21 31.07.2026 •
Governments in Asia are scrambling to avoid their second major energy crisis in six months, as another maritime chokepoint in the Middle East faces a violent blockade, leaving only the Suez canal completely open for the free movement of gulf oil, The Guardian writes.
Countries like Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and South Korea – which rely on Middle East oil for up to 90% of their imports – are working to secure supplies after Yemen’s Houthis launched a blockade of Saudi Arabian shipping passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait, which forms the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
“They’re scraping at the bottom of the barrel in terms of global reserve capacity… there’s very little inventory now,” says Ahmed Helal, from the Asia Group thinktank.
Japan – along with neighbouring countries – is already spending billions on fuel subsidies to keep the cost of petroleum down, hitting government budgets hard. After the announcement from the Houthis, some like South Korea were quick to extend those fuel tax cuts.
Meanwhile, the spike in the cost of imports has led to a rise in inflation, piling pressure on the governments of regional giants such as Japan and Indonesia.
Now, the threat to Red Sea shipping is set to increase the pressure. In March, Saudi Arabia responded to the closure of the strait of Hormuz by rerouting oil exports from the gulf on the country’s east coast, to the west coast port of Yanbu in the Red Sea which now handles more than 70% of Riyadh’s crude oil exports.
That proved to be a lifeline for many Asian nations, like China – which is the largest buyer of Saudi oil – and India, Japan and South Korea, which follow close behind.
Some Japanese and South Korean refiners are reportedly seeking to circumvent the Houthi threat by rerouting cargos north through the Suez canal, to the Mediterranean and around Africa. But this lengthy detour comes with huge costs.
A VLCC, the largest size of oil tanker, is too big to pass through the Suez canal fully loaded, meaning cargos would need to unload up to half of their oil in the Red Sea, have it transported through Egypt’s Sumed pipeline to the Mediterranean coast, where they would then pick it up after transiting through the canal, adding costs and logistical complications to the journey.
Rerouting the oil via the Mediterranean and around the Cape of Good Hope would also more than double the voyage time for most Asian importers, further adding to freight and fuel costs.
For now, it’s a cost many may be willing to incur. The Houthis targeted at least two Saudi oil tankers exiting the Red Sea last week and launched attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure this week. The number of vessels transiting through Bab al-Mandab has fallen to the lowest level in months, with international shipping apparently paralysed by the Houthi threat.
“Changing behaviour by tankers tells us that they are taking the threats seriously,” says Matt Smith, a commodity research director at Kpler, a market tracker.
Insurers have responded in kind, with war risk premiums paid by tankers reportedly doubling in the last week, potentially adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of a voyage.
Those costs will inevitably be passed on to consumers in Asia, who are already reeling from the energy shock imposed by the US-Iran war.
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