Aramco Weighs Saudi-Controlled Tankers for Hormuz Transits Alongside Sinokor
Traders told Reuters that Saudi Aramco may deploy Saudi-controlled vessels on Hormuz routes alongside Sinokor, widening the carrier base on a US Navy-escorted export corridor.
Traders told Reuters that Saudi Aramco is weighing the use of Saudi-controlled tankers on Strait of Hormuz transits alongside vessels operated by South Korea's Sinokor, a potential expansion of the carrier mix on a route where the US military has been actively escorting shipments.7
The move would reduce Aramco's dependence on a single shipping operator at a time when Hormuz flows remain contested. Since the Iran war disrupted transit in early March, Sinokor has become central to Korea-bound Saudi crude logistics. Adding Saudi-flag vessels would spread operational exposure across a broader fleet.7
About 10 million barrels of Saudi crude have cleared the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, with supertankers loading from the port of Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf, according to Rystad Energy.3 One US official told Bloomberg Radio that roughly 6.5 million barrels per day exited the Gulf via the strait over the preceding week, with the military providing escorts for some of those transits.7 The supertanker Al Areesh openly exited the Persian Gulf in the early hours of Thursday (2026-07-30) amid continuing hostilities, a signal that commercial traffic continues to move despite the security environment.7
South Korea's exposure to this route is large and difficult to hedge quickly. Before the Iran war, the country sourced roughly 61% of its crude imports and 54% of its naphtha imports via Hormuz transits, oilprice.com reported.4 The conflict pushed Seoul to reroute aggressively toward the Red Sea and the Saudi export terminal at Yanbu, which made Sinokor's tanker capacity commercially important on both legs of the trade.4
Aramco had demonstrated it could reroute supply at scale when Hormuz flows were first cut. The company ramped up its pipeline capacity to 7 million barrels per day within eight days of the disruption, keeping roughly 60% of the kingdom's pre-war export volumes flowing through alternate paths, zawya.com reported.1 Aramco stated plans to sustain more than 5 million barrels per day through alternative routes to stabilize global energy supplies, India Seatrade News reported.2 CEO Amin Nasser estimated in late May (2026-05-21) that since the conflict began in late February, the global oil market had already absorbed a shortfall of nearly 1 billion barrels of crude.2
But the Red Sea alternative has run into its own pressures. Houthi rebels declared on Wednesday (2026-07-22) that they intended to impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, and an analyst at MarineTraffic described the Bab el-Mandeb situation as deteriorating at that point.5 Traffic data confirmed the shift: Kpler recorded 21 commodity vessel crossings of the Bab el-Mandeb on Wednesday (2026-07-29), down from 38 the previous day, with only Russian crude moving through the chokepoint.7 VLCC freight rates for the southern Red Sea route reached 465 Worldscale points, or nearly $500,000 per day, as of late July (2026-07-29).7
With Yanbu flows under pressure, tanker operators have shifted to a longer path around Africa and into the Mediterranean. At least eight very large crude carriers were heading to Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir to load Saudi crude as observable activity at Yanbu dwindled following the Houthi announcement, Rigzone reported.6 That routing adds transit time and cost for any cargo bound for Asia, reflecting how many layers of contingency have accumulated since the disruption began in March.
ICE Brent crude front-month was at $91.70 per barrel as of early Wednesday (2026-08-19). Saudi-controlled tankers on Hormuz would give Riyadh more direct operational flexibility if US Navy escort availability shifts or the Bab el-Mandeb deteriorates further. How fast such a fleet can be mobilised, and whether Sinokor's existing capacity holds in the interim, is the practical variable traders have not yet fully priced in.7