The British oil company Shell reportedly has suspended all shipments through the Red Sea indefinitely amid the ongoing Houthi attacks from Yemen on commercial vessels on the key global trade route.
The suspension was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on 16 January, citing unnamed sources.
FOX Business reached out to Shell’s office for the Americas but did not immediately hear back, and the Journal report says the company declined to comment on the matter.
The move comes after BP paused shipments through the Red Sea last week, as did Qatar Energy this week of its shipments of liquefied-natural-gas exports.
Speaking to Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an executive from the port and freight operator DP World predicted that the prices of consumer goods will be "significantly higher" as a result of the Houthi attacks, specifically affecting Europeans’ pocketbooks.
Since November, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched dozens of missiles and drones at commercial vessels around the Red Sea. They are claiming to avenge the Israel counter-operation in Gaza against Hamas terrorists, though the Houthi attacks have grown increasingly indiscriminate and have even imperiled tankers and container ships moving sanctioned Russian oil.