Gulf States Rush to Build New Pipelines Amid Strait of Hormuz Uncertainty

Middle Eastern oil producers are accelerating plans to bypass the Strait of Hormuz as tensions between Iran and other countries in the region continue. The war has caused a significant disruption to shipping through the strait, which is a major bottleneck for global oil exports.

The US Energy Information Administration estimates that at least seven major pipeline projects are underway or planned to transport oil from the Gulf to ports on the Red Sea and Mediterranean. These pipelines will allow countries in the region to export more oil without relying on the strait, which has been a chokepoint for Iranian forces.

The East-West pipeline built by Saudi Arabia in the 1980s has been operating at full capacity since the war began, carrying 3.5-5.5 million barrels per day from Abqaiq to Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. The UAE is also accelerating its own pipeline project, which will increase oil supplied to Fujairah by more than 1.2 million barrels a day.

Iraqi officials are working with US companies to develop alternative export routes for southern oil fields around Basra, including a pipeline that would take supplies from an oil terminal in Basra to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey along the Mediterranean Sea. This pipeline would also have a branch extending to the Mediterranean port of Baniyas in Syria.