Piracy Threatens Oil Transit through Gulf of Aden

Bab el-Mandab, the strait connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, has come under the attack of pirate vessels. Ships have been captured and their crews held for ransom. This threatens some 3.3 million barrels of crude, or 3.9% of daily world supply, that moves through the strait headed east for the Suez Canal.

Oil Transit Points Through Middle East Straits and
Percent of Daily Oil Demand Carried

Source: Energy Information Administration

Daily percent of oil carried:
Straits of Hormuz (Persian Gulf): 19.4% of daily demand
Bab el-Mandab (Gulf of Aden): 3.9% of daily demand
Suez Canal (Red Sea): 5.3% of daily demand

Links:
Somali Pirates Grab Ukranian Ship Loaded with 30 Tanks

Pirates from the failed African state of Somalia have attacked at least 61 ships in and around the Gulf of Aden this year (2008), 17 of them in the first two weeks of September (2008) alone, according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia. That compares with 13 attacks in the area for all of 2007.

Somali Pirates Demand $20 Million to Release Ship

Navy Boats Monitor Hijacked Ship

Update: Developed Nations Push Back on Piracy

Somalia

Source: LonelyPlanet.com