Saudi Aramco has changed crude oil feedstock supplies to its 400,000 bpd Jazan refinery on the southwest coast to enable tanker supplies via the more secure route from its Red Sea terminals, avoiding the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint according to MEES analysis.

• Since its 2021 startup, Jazan has relied on Arab Medium crude oil shipped on tankers from Aramco’s Gulf coast terminals at Ras Tanura, but it is now receiving a mix of Arab Heavy and Arab Light crudes from Red Sea terminals.
• it appears that Aramco has now radically overhauled its operations at Jazan to favour a lower-risk supply chain to avoid interaction with potential Houthi rebel attacks.