Does the Suez Canal stop affect global oil shipments?

A ship rescue company says a giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal’s course of navigation could remain stuck for days, making it difficult for oil and fuel shipments to move between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

How much oil goes through the canal?

Of the 39.2 million barrels per day of crude oil imported by sea in 2020, 1.74 million barrels per day used the canal, according to Kepler tanker traffic data.

In which direction does crude oil flow?

Crude oil and refined products flow in both directions in the 193 km long Suez Canal. In 2020, Europe imported 550,000 barrels a day of crude from sources east of Suez, most of it through the canal, according to Kepler figures.

Imports from South and East Asia through the canal reached 1.27 million barrels per day in June 2020, but deliveries subsequently declined to 310,000 barrels per day in November.

What about refined products?

Just under 9 percent, or 1.54 million barrels per day, of world imports of refined products went into the Suez Canal last year, according to Kepler. Naphtha, a raw material for the plastics industry, constitutes a large part of the supply of refined products used by the canal.

Kepler says two distillate tankers loaded with diesel and jet fuel waited Thursday to sail to the Mediterranean, while two tankers waited for Nafta to sail east.

Are there pipes parallel to the canal?

The 320 km long SUMED pipeline connects the Gulf of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea and carries 80 percent of the oil destined for Europe, according to the Sumed website.

The capacity of the line is approximately 2.8 million barrels per day, but it is used at much lower rates most of the time. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says pipeline flows were around 1.3 million bpd in 2018.