Faced with disruptions to its primary oil export routes through the Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb straits driven by Iran and Houthi rebels, Saudi Arabia is forced to reroute petroleum shipments through Egypt's Suez Canal.
While the kingdom has previously used the Suez route to export some of its oil, it has not tested it as the main export outlet for decades.
Unlike in the 1970s and 1980s, when Saudi Arabia's top oil buyers sat in Europe and the United States, the majority of its buyers today are in Asia.
To get to Asia, tankers with Saudi oil will have to circumnavigate the whole of Africa, adding around a month to their journey.
It takes only 19 days for a tanker to sail from Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu to Taiwan via Bab el-Mandeb.
