Houthi forces said on July 22, 2026, that they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. The ships are named ENCELIA and LAYLA. A Houthi spokesperson, Yahya Saree, announced the attack on his X account, saying the tankers broke a Houthi blockade Al Jazeera. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih confirmed the attacks and said one ship was damaged Reuters. Saudi Arabia then stopped sending oil through the Red Sea shipping route Reuters.

After the attack, oil prices rose sharply. Brent crude — a key oil price used worldwide — went up 3.61% to $97.47 a barrel on July 23, 2026, according to Trading Economics. Prices had already been climbing: Brent passed $92 the day before, hitting a two-month high The Economic Times. AGBI reported oil reached a six-week high, rising $2 to $96 a barrel, and tied the jump directly to the tanker attacks AGBI. U.S. oil prices also rose about 2% after the announcement, reaching roughly $88 a barrel Seeking Alpha.

The attack did not come out of nowhere. The day before, July 21, three oil tankers turned around in the southern Red Sea after Houthi warnings. One of those ships was Chinese Bloomberg. Also on July 21, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia had been sending record amounts of oil through Red Sea terminals in the weeks before the Houthi warning Bloomberg. A huge amount of oil was flowing through the route right when the Houthis started enforcing their blockade.

Oil prices had reached $126 a barrel earlier in 2026 before falling back, per BusinessWorld. Around the same time as the tanker attack, a new ceasefire proposal involving Iran was in the news. But oil prices still settled at a one-month high, because the Houthi threat to Saudi oil shipments stayed active and separate from the Iran situation MarketWatch.

Here is why this matters for your money. The Red Sea route includes a narrow passage called the Bab el-Mandeb strait. It is a key pathway for Saudi oil headed to buyers in Europe and Asia. Think of it like a highway that a lot of delivery trucks depend on. When that highway closes, the trucks have to take a much longer detour — in this case, around the southern tip of Africa. That adds travel time and shipping costs, which pushes oil prices up. Since Saudi Arabia was sending record amounts of oil through this route before the attack, a lot of oil now needs to find another way to its buyers.

The bigger picture is about how much risk the market is pricing in. Oil traders were not just reacting to two damaged ships. They were reacting to the possibility that the Houthis could keep attacking tankers on a route that was carrying record volumes of Saudi oil. Earlier in 2026, oil hit $126 a barrel before falling. Whether prices climb back toward that level depends on how long Saudi Arabia keeps its exports halted, whether the Houthis target more ships, and whether an Iran ceasefire — if accepted — limits what the Houthis do next. None of that is settled.

The shipping industry's own actions are telling. Three tankers turned around in the Red Sea on July 21 — before the attack on ENCELIA and LAYLA was even announced. A Chinese ship was among them. The companies operating these ships had already decided the route was too dangerous. When the people actually moving the oil decide it is not safe to sail, the risk is real, not just talk.