London —
The world, hungry for oil, got a modest reprieve earlier this month when Saudi Arabia began diverting millions of barrels of crude —ordinarily destined for ships transiting the blockaded Strait of Hormuz — to its Red Sea port of Yanbu.
But over the weekend Iran-backed Houthi militants entered the war in an escalation that threatens to sever even that lifeline.
Anything that jeopardizes Saudi oil flows out of the Red Sea will put more upward pressure on global oil prices, said Richard Bronze, co-founder and head of geopolitics at research firm Energy Aspects.