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Qatar, Saudi Arabia push LNG and oil shipments despite Red Sea attacks

Gulf oil and liquefied natural gas producers are maintaining export loadings despite a renewed wave of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, according to a Business Times report citing shipping and trade data. Producers including Saudi Arabia and Qatar have continued to dispatch crude and LNG cargoes, with loading volumes holding steady even as some shippers reroute vessels or pay higher war-risk insurance premiums.

The attacks have disrupted traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Suez Canal, the shortest sea route between the Gulf and Europe. Many tankers have diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, adding days and cost to voyages, while others continue to transit the Red Sea under naval escort or with adjusted insurance arrangements. Despite the disruption, regional energy flows to global markets have largely been sustained.

For Qatar, the world's leading LNG exporter alongside the United States and Australia, the bulk of cargoes move eastward through the Strait of Hormuz toward Asian buyers, limiting direct exposure to the Red Sea threat, though Europe-bound shipments are more affected. Saudi Arabia ships crude from terminals on both its Gulf coast and its Red Sea coast at Yanbu, fed by the east-west pipeline that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz.