First LNG Carrier in Five Months Passes through Bab-el-Mandeb Strait as Houthi Threat Eases

Liquid natural gas producers have been avoiding the Red Sea for much of 2024 amid continuous attacks by Houthi militants. This may now be changing as the first LNG carrier in five months has passed through the Bab-el-Mandeb chokepoint at the southern terminus of the Red Sea. 

The 148,173-cbm vessel Salalah LNG traveled through the strait late on February 8. Its destination is currently unknown based on AIS information. The Omani-owned vessel departed from the country’s Qalhat LNG Terminal on February 5. 

Following the recent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi movement announced a halt to attacks on non-Israeli vessels. They also released the 25-person crew of the car carrier Galaxy Leader after more than a year in captivity. 

The last LNG carrier to traverse the length of the Red Sea before Salalah LNG was Russian “shadow fleet” vessel Pioneer at the end of September 2024. Prior to that another Russia-affiliated carrier Asya Energy (now East Energy) moved through the same waters in June 2024. Both vessels have since been designated by the U.S. for loading cargo at the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.

Vessel owners have remained cautious and several, including Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, said they will steer clear of the Red Sea for now. Since the end of 2023 traffic has nosedived by 60 percent as close to 150 vessels were attacked during that period. 

Earlier this week Chrysalis, which was attacked by the Houthis in July 2024, became the first oil tanker to pass through the Red Sea and Suez Canal since the Houthi announcement. The Suez Canal Authority said the return of tanker traffic signaled the gradual return of stability. Oil shipments through the Red Sea had decreased by more than 50 percent from 8.7mn b/d  in 2023 to 4.0mn barrels per day in 2024. 

Nearly all of the regional and global LNG traffic detoured via the southern tip of Africa for the past 14 months. Russia also dispatched several carriers across its Arctic Northern Sea Route, a short-cut between Europe and Asia during the ice-free summer period. 

Gas major Gazprom sent the 170,471-cbm Pskov from its Portovaya liquefaction plant near Saint Petersburg in the Baltic Sea to China in September 2024. The turmoil in the Red Sea also prompted several container ship operators to test the Arctic waters, including several Panamax container ships. Several Aframax and Suezmax oil tankers als transited through the Arctic.

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