TotalEnergies stops navigating Red Sea

The French oil company TotalEnergies stated that the journey of its ships to Europe has been prolonged since the company stopped sending them through the southern strait of Bab El-Mandab leading to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The back-and-forth attacks between the Houthis group, the U.S., and the UK in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait have disrupted commercial vessels, increasing the cost of freight and limiting traffic.

“The conflict between the Houthis and the U.S.-led coalition is having a significant impact on the region. So we’re careful and are no longer crossing the Red Sea,” CEO Patrick Pouyanne stated.

Moreover, he mentioned that increased insurance costs are one reason why travelling through the Red Sea has become more expensive.

The attacks also forced the majority of vessels to reroute around the southern tip of Africa.

“It’s four days to make the full trip compared to going through the Red Sea for an LNG carrier,” Pouyanne added.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated on Wednesday that product markets in Europe were particularly being impacted by delays in oil product deliveries caused by ships being rerouted to avoid attacks in the Red Sea.