Riyadh: The impact of the war in the Middle East has forced Saudi Arabia to reduce its oil shipments to Asian markets, while Russian oil tankers have arrived in India following easing of restrictions by the United States in mid-March.

According to Thai News Agency, Saudi Arabia's Aramco, a major global oil exporter, has reduced its crude oil shipments to Asian buyers in April due to disruptions to oil transportation through the Strait of Hormuz. Aramco will only ship Arab Light crude from the Yanbu port on the Red Sea to customers with existing April sales contracts. Some customers have been informed they will receive less oil than specified in their contracts due to capacity limitations in pipelines transporting oil to the Yanbu storage facility. Meanwhile, oil exports from major Gulf ports have been almost entirely suspended because tankers cannot safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

On the other hand, reports indicate that the Russian oil tanker Aqua Titan has arrived at a southern Indian port. This follows the US order on March 12th to exempt Russia from sanctions, allowing countries to purchase oil from Russian tankers at sea for 30 days. This measure aims to mitigate the impact of high oil prices and stabilize the turbulent global energy market, which has been affected by the Iran-Iran conflict, damaging major power plants in the Persian Gulf and closing the Strait of Hormuz. Analysts estimate that oil production in the Middle East will decrease by 7-10 million barrels per day.