Oil prices held steady on Thursday, despite renewed attacks between the US and Iran and the first drone strike of the war in Egypt.
The suspected drone attack led two ships — a US-owned gas storage tanker and a Greek-operated LNG carrier — to catch fire at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta on Wednesday. Two Iranians told The New York Times the strike was designed to show how much further global shipping and energy supplies could be disrupted.
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains below a tenth of pre-war levels. Qatar, as a result, is scrambling to buy LNG cargoes from the US it can resell to its customers in Asia, and US crude oil stockpiles are hitting new lows.
Riyadh, meanwhile, is trying to assemble an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping, with dozens of countries said to be involved in under discussions. The Houthis — who declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20 and began attacking Saudi vessels — are reportedly weighing transit fees on most Bab el-Mandeb traffic, a plan Iranian advisers travelled to Yemen to help shape and from which Chinese ships would be exempt. Traffic through Bab el-Mandeb is down a fifth in the past 10 days.