Saudi oil tanker firm crossing Hormuz with US coordination - report

Saudi Arabia’s main shipping firm is sending some tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the U.S. military, Bloomberg reported.

The Saudis are working with the U.S. on a government level to support the transits, president of Bahri Ship Management Khalid Alhammad said. The company sent through four vessels yesterday, he said.

A wave of crossings over the past couple of months has taken overall oil shipments from the Middle East close to the levels from before the conflict despite a ramp-up of Iranian attacks on tankers. Saudi Arabia has boosted exports through the troubled chokepoint as it looked to raise its market share in Asia and an attack on an alternative pipeline in September closed that link to the Red Sea for a few days.

Bahri, officially called the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, has been instrumental in pushing state oil producer Aramco’s exports higher via Hormuz. Alhammad said the Gulf’s national shipping companies like Bahri have no choice but to continue transiting the waterway.