TODAY: DP World expands African port capacity + Fujairah is getting a Mediterranean oil terminal

Good morning, nice people. We’re back — and evidently, so is Washington’s pressure campaign against Iran.

The US has rolled out its next play: “Operation Economic Outcast.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rolled out sanctions on roughly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels worldwide, and put the world on notice that secondary sanctions now cover anyone doing business with Iran across five sectors — digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping.

Iran was already threatening countermoves before Bessent took the podium — floating military retaliation and deeper cuts to Gulf oil exports. Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh later kept it simpler: Iran is “fully prepared.” An IRGC spokesperson went further, warning that any US strike on Iranian infrastructure would draw “heavy” retaliation against American energy chokepoints and interests.

The Red Sea front is also heating back up: A vessel belonging to the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) was involved in a “security incident” in the Red Sea on Monday, according to a statement. Bahri said that all crew members aboard the Amzan were unharmed. The statement follows claims by Yemen’s Houthis that they targeted a vessel off Yanbu’s coast, matching a report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations of a strike 63 nautical miles west of the port city.

Which brings us to something new: We’re introducing Chokepoint Watch — a new lens on the stories shaping trade and infrastructure. We’ll be watching what happens to the infrastructure underneath: the routes that can be blocked, the alternatives being built, and the assets that suddenly become more valuable when a chokepoint tightens.

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and we’re devoting the full day to the singular set of questions on everyone’s mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, your economy, your own job — and your kids’ future?

Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Seats are limited and attendance is by invitation only.

Request your invitation here.

Saudi mulls state-backed ins. cover for ships

Saudi Arabia is exploring a state-backed war and political risk ins. pool to cover ships in the region, with early talks underway with London brokers, the Financial Times reports, citing sources it says are familiar with the matter. The plan responds to a market where ins. players have raised prices, restricted coverage, and in some cases refused to sell war cover for vessels transiting chokepoints including the Red Sea. Underwriters have also grown warier of Saudi-linked ships as Houthi attacks escalate, treating them more like high-risk Israeli and US assets.

How it would work: The Finance Ministry is considering a scheme offering up to SAR 700 mn in commercial cover per insured event, such as a ship seizure or missile strike. Ins. and reins. companies would provide the initial cover, supported by hundreds of mns of USD in additional backstop capacity per insured entity from the Saudi Export-Import Bank. One version of the proposal would see Saudi Re and Riyadh Re leading a consortium of reinsurers that could include international firms. The terms and the government’s exact share of the risk are still being negotiated and could change or collapse.

The pool would cover an increasingly blurred risk, giving shipowners access to broader cover for war, political violence, and terrorism — risks that are typically insured separately. That matters more as Houthi attacks blur the line between war and terrorism, leaving shipowners unsure what their policies actually cover, said Maximilian Hess of Enmetena Advisory.

The bigger issue is keeping trade moving. As Saudi shifts more exports toward Yanbu while both of its main maritime routes face disruption, a state-backed pool could give shipowners enough certainty to keep using those routes without ins. costs becoming a deterrent. Hess doesn’t see a market in crisis but said a pool could keep cover available at rates that don’t dent project economics or investment decisions.

Adnoc’s local partner in South Africa

A local face for Adnoc’s Shell agreement: Adnoc Distribution signed a definitive agreement with Reatile Group that will see the South African investment holding company take a minority stake in Shell Downstream South Africa (SDSA) once Adnoc Distribution’s own acquisition of the business closes, according to an ADX disclosure (pdf).

What we know: The tie-up satisfies South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment rules, which require local ownership in the country’s fuel retail sector. While the statement does not disclose the size of the stake, Adnoc had said that it plans to sell around 28% of SDSA to a local empowerment partner and an employee ownership scheme.

REMEMBER- Adnoc Distribution agreed to buy SDSA from Shell in July for around USD 1 bn before debt and working-capital adjustments — making South Africa its fourth retail market after the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The agreement, expected to close in 2027, hands Adnoc 580 fuel stations plus SDSA’s wholesale fuels, aviation, and lubricants businesses.

Why it matters: Reatile has 23 years of investing and partnering experience across the energy sector in Africa — including South Africa — which makes it more than a name on a cap table brought in to check a compliance box.

What’s next? The underlying acquisition still needs regulatory sign-off in South Africa, and the completion of the Reatile stake sale is conditioned on that acquisition closing first.

The Hormuz workaround’s newest investor?

TotalEnergies is putting its own capital behind the UAE’s Hormuz bypass. The French energy giant is set to invest in expanding Abu Dhabi’s export pipeline capacity through Fujairah, as the UAE works to roughly double the amount of crude it can move to the Gulf of Oman without crossing Hormuz, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne told Reuters. The existing Habshan-Fujairah pipeline can carry up to 1.8 mn bbl / d, with expanded export capacity targeted for next year.

This is as much a trading hedge as infrastructure play: TotalEnergies — which is a major trader of Iraqi and Qatari crude — needs alternative export routes it can rely on rather than betting on Hormuz staying open. That turns bypass capacity from something TotalEnergies simply uses into infrastructure it’s willing to help finance, part of a broader push that also includes plans to partner on an Iraq-Syria pipeline.

REMEMBER- The UAE had already started building the redundancy. Adnoc is accelerating a second pipeline to Fujairah that it says was already 50% complete in May and is targeted for delivery in 2027, supplementing the existing Adcop route. The additional line would add around 1.5 mn bbl / d, lifting the UAE’s bypass capacity to roughly 3.3 mn bbl / d.

Two hedges, one supplier?

Japan is starting to reroute Saudi crude around the Red Sea — a sign that Asian buyers are adapting to a new reality for Gulf oil flows. Idemitsu, Japan’s second-largest refiner, has begun sourcing Saudi crude from Yanbu via Suez and the Cape of Good Hope after Houthi attacks made Bab Al Mandab largely impassable, Reuters reports. The detour stretches a typical 20-day voyage to 50-60 days.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are seeking to expand crude storage in Japan and South Korea — with both asking Tokyo to increase their current 8 mn bbl stockpiles tenfold, the New York Times reports. Saudi has already expanded storage in South Korea and partnered with KNOC to hold 5.3 mn bbl there.

Japan has little room to move away from Gulf crude itself. The country sourced 94% of its crude imports from the Middle East in 2025, with 93% of those barrels normally passing through Hormuz. Its refineries are also configured around Middle Eastern grades, making a wholesale switch to alternative suppliers difficult.

Market watch

Oil prices fell 2% this morning as Iran and Oman resumed talks on reopening Hormuz, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures fell around 1.78 to USD 86.80 / bbl by 02.27 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) declined USD 1.49 to USD 80.87/ bbl.

The Baltic Index edges up: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — was up 1.5% to 2,926 points on Tuesday. The capesize index gained 2% to 4,735 points, while the panamax increased by 2% to 2,166 points. The smaller supramax inched up 0.1% to 1,643 points.

Destination Sahel Issue IV, the final issue in the series, drops this week, and we’re exploring how Egypt’s North Coast could become more than a summer story.

Living in Sahel year-round is moving from a seasonal idea to a serious question; an industrial push is reshaping the Coast’s economic base, and Egyptian homebuyers are weighing Sahel against Dubai, London, and other Mediterranean markets for where to put their money.

In this issue, we get into what it would take for Sahel to work beyond the summer, how industry fits into the Coast’s next chapter, and the numbers behind the Sahel-vs-everywhere debate.

Click here to subscribe to the Egypt edition, coming straight to your inbox today.

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