Brent Crude Tops $107 a Barrel as Houthis Advance on Red Sea Port of Mokha

The move matters less as a crude-price story than as a maritime-risk repricing: Bab el-Mandeb is the chokepoint linking Red Sea transit to the Suez route, so a militia foothold on its Yemeni shore raises the cost and uncertainty of moving energy and container freight through it. The immediate read-across is to shipping, insurance and supply-chain exposure rather than to oil fundamentals, which the price jump alone does not explain. Whether insurers reprice war-risk premiums for the corridor, and whether transits are rerouted, is the open question.