LONDON (Dispatches) -- Commercial shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has dropped to its lowest level in months after Yemeni forces targeted Saudi oil facilities along the Red Sea coast.

According to shipping data released by Kpler on Monday, only 11 commodity vessels transited the Strait on Sunday. The decline in maritime traffic pushed prices for physical crude cargoes in West Asia, Europe and Africa to two-month highs last week. Of the vessels passing through Bab el-Mandeb on Sunday, seven were oil tankers, including three entering the Red Sea. Two very large crude carriers (VLCCs) were en route to Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port to load crude, while the third was a Russian-linked tanker.