Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picksBP Share News (BP.)

Share Price Information for BP (BP.)

London Stock Exchange
Share Price is delayed by 15 minutes
Get Live Data
Share Price: 460.00
Bid: 459.60
Ask: 459.80
Change: 0.00 (0.00%)
Spread: 0.20 (0.044%)
Open: 460.30
High: 463.35
Low: 458.30
Prev. Close: 460.00
BP. Live PriceLast checked at -

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

US launches Red Sea force as ships reroute to avoid attacks

Tue, 19th Dec 2023 19:10

Crisis is spillover from Israel-Hamas war

*

Iran-backed Yemeni militants are attacking ships

*

U.S. announces a multinational task force

*

Force will protect commercial shipping

*

Attacks force freights to reroute around Africa

MANAMA/DUBAI, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday launched a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea as attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni militants forced major shipping companies to reroute, stoking fears of sustained disruptions to global trade.

The Houthi militant group, which controls vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, has since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea - attacks it says respond to Israel's devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

This week, the attacks began to take a toll on global trade, disrupting a key trade route that links Europe and North America with Asia via the Suez Canal.

Oil major BP paused all Red Sea transits, and a slew of top shipping firms including Maersk started diverting shipments normally made through Suez around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa's southern tip. The new route around Africa adds days to journey times and raises costs. The list of companies avoiding the Red Sea continued to grow on Tuesday.

The crisis, which has grown out of the war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, is the latest in the Middle East to pit the United States and its allies against Iran and its regional Arab proxy militias.

Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in a cross-border raid on Oct. 7, drawing a devastating Israeli offensive that has killed more than 19,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Iranian proxies including the Houthis and Lebanese Hezbollah have fired rockets at Israel since the conflict began. The Houthis, meanwhile, have stepped up their Red Sea attacks, threatening to target all ships heading to Israel and warning shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's headquarters in the Middle East, said Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain were among nations involved in the Red Sea security operation.

The group, widely dubbed in media reports a "task force," will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden.

"This is an international challenge that demands collective action," Austin said in a statement, announcing the initiative as "Operation Prosperity Guardian." He called on other countries to contribute as he condemned "reckless Houthi actions".

But it was unclear how many other countries are willing to do what mostly U.S. warships have done in recent days - shoot down Houthi missiles and drones, and rush to the aid of commercial ships under attack.

A European diplomat whose country will take part in the task force said the idea of the operation was for participating nations' ships to shoot down missiles and drones and accompany vessels through the Red Sea.

The Houthis, in a statement late on Tuesday, said they were only targeting Israeli ships or ships heading into Israeli ports and posed no threat to any country, but accused the new U.S.-led task force of being "part of the aggression against Gaza and the Palestinian people."

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior Houthi official, told Iranian TV on Tuesday that any country acting against Houthi forces would see its ships targeted in the Red Sea.

A U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity played down the idea that naval ships would escort commercial vessels, given that hundreds normally travel the route daily, but said the U.S. operation would position ships in areas where they could have the greatest security benefit.

IMPACT ON GLOBAL TRADE

BP's decision to temporarily pause all transit through the Red Sea and oil tanker group Frontline's saying its vessels would avoid passage through the waterway showed that the crisis was broadening to include energy shipments. Crude oil prices rose for a second straight day on Tuesday as the Houthi attacks on ships disrupted trade and more companies were forced to reroute vessels.

Shipping companies continued to reroute on Tuesday. Denmark's Maersk, which had paused Red Sea shipping, said it would sail its ships around Africa until further notice.

Maersk said the Red Sea task force was a "positive" development, but said it was seeking more details on how it would work.

"With the line of impacted vessels building fast in the area, progressing with speed will be key for the coalition in order to minimise direct negative impact on global trade," a Maersk statement said.

International firms said they were drawing up contingency plans. Sweden's Electrolux said it had set up a task force to find alternative routes or identify priority deliveries if needed.

Many other ships were still plying the Red Sea, though several ships had armed guards onboard, LSEG data showed. A number of container vessels were anchored and others

turned off tracking systems

as traders adjusted routes and prices in response to the maritime attacks.

Industry sources said the impact on global trade would depend on how long the crisis persists, but insurance premiums and longer routes would be immediate burdens.

The longer trip will cost up to $1 million extra in fuel for every round trip between Asia and Northern Europe, according to estimates from freight platform Xeneta.

Economic policymakers said it was too early to assess the broader financial impact, but the main concern was whether disruption would get serious enough to ignite a new round of global inflation, just as central banks are finally overcoming price pressures after the COVID-19 pandemic.

About 12% of world shipping traffic usually transits via the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, passing then as well into Red Sea waters off Yemen.

IRAN DENIES BLAME

Austin said on Monday that Iran was behind the Houthi attacks. Iran denies involvement but says it supports its Houthi allies.

The European diplomat said the task force aimed to send a strong signal to Iran and its proxies. "There is no doubt Houthis are acting on behalf of Iran," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Many major Arab allies of the United States have so far declined to join the task force. Bahrain's defence minister met Western counterparts to discuss maritime security, an official social media page said on Tuesday, but gave no other details.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Mohammed Ghobari, Yuka Obayashi, Lisa Barrington, John Irish, Anne Kauranen, Nayera Abdallah, Josephine Mason, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Jonathan Saul, Reuters bureaux, Dubai newsroom; writing by John Davison, Alexander Cornwell, Elisa Martinuzzi; editing by Hugh Lawson, Mark Heinrich and Leslie Adler)

More News
Today 00:04

Crew evacuated from Greek-owned vessel hit by Houthis

MANILA/LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) - The crew of a Greek-owned vessel damaged in an attack by Yemeni Houthi militants has been evacuated, and the abandoned ship is drifting in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Friday.

Read more
13 Jun 2024 16:22

Ukraine agrees on first LNG supply deal with US company Venture Global

June 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine signed on Thursday its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with a U.S. company to help to avert an energy supply crunch amid a war with its bigger neighbour Russia.

Read more
11 Jun 2024 16:00

Woodside's Sangomar project produces first oil in Senegal

DAKAR, June 11 (Reuters) - Senegal's Sangomar oil and gas field has produced its first oil, operator Woodside Energy said on Tuesday, adding that the drilling campaign was ongoing.

Read more
11 Jun 2024 13:31

OPEC keeps global oil demand forecasts unchanged

(Sharecast News) - The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its short-term global oil demand forecasts unchanged.

Read more
10 Jun 2024 23:46

Sector movers: Oil majors catch a bid after nearly a month of share price declines

(Sharecast News) - Oil & Gas shares caught a bid on Monday, tracking a rebound in oil prices after about two month's of losses, despite strength in the Greenback.

Read more
10 Jun 2024 22:44

California seeks company profits in Big Oil climate lawsuit

June 10 (Reuters) - California's attorney general on Monday sought to force the world's biggest oil companies to give up profits the state alleges they made while deceiving consumers about their role in contributing to climate change.

Read more
10 Jun 2024 21:48

California seeks company profits in Big Oil climate lawsuit

June 10 (Reuters) - California's attorney general on Monday sought to force the world's biggest oil companies to give up profits the state alleges they made while deceiving consumers about their role in contributing to climate change.

Read more
10 Jun 2024 15:37

Supreme Court seeks US government views on Honolulu climate suit against oil companies

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked President Joe Biden's administration to offer its views on a bid by Sunoco and other oil companies to scuttle a lawsuit by Honolulu accusing them of deceiving the public about climate change.

Read more
4 Jun 2024 17:16

European shares snap three-day winning streak on commodities' drag

Energy shares hit over two-month lows, biggest drag

*

Read more
4 Jun 2024 17:03

Sector movers: Miners, Big Oil weigh on FTSE 350

(Sharecast News) - Commodity related stocks were the chief drag on the FTSE 350 amid a combination of growth concerns and risk aversion.

Read more
4 Jun 2024 17:01

London stocks log declines as losses in miners weigh

FTSE 100 down 0.4%, FTSE 250 falls 0.9%

*

Read more
4 Jun 2024 16:53

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Cooling US job market boosts rate cut hopes

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London closed lower on Tuesday, with New York tracking down, amid some disappointing economic data from the US.

Read more
4 Jun 2024 11:59

LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: BP and Shell take hit as oil prices retreat

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were lower at midday Tuesday, with oil majors BP and Shell dragging the index lower as oil prices took a hit.

Read more
30 May 2024 20:55

Trinidad court recognizes ConocoPhillips' $1.3 bln claim against Venezuela

May 30 (Reuters) - A Trinidad and Tobago court order has granted ConocoPhillips the right to enforce a $1.33 billion claim against Venezuela for past expropriations, a decision that could complicate proposed offshore gas ventures between Trinidad and Venezuela.

Read more
29 May 2024 21:16

BP, Trinidad's NGC receive US license for gas development with Venezuela

May 29 (Reuters) - British oil major BP and Trinidad and Tobago's state energy firm NGC have received a two-year license from the U.S. Treasury Department to negotiate and develop the Cocuina-Manakin gas fields with Venezuela, Trinidad's energy minister said on Wednesday.

Read more

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.