Gulf Nations Build Oil Bypass Routes for 21 Million Barrels a Day as Hormuz Crisis Lingers
Updated
Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 18
Gulf Nations Build Oil Bypass Routes for 21 Million Barrels a Day as Hormuz Crisis Lingers
3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 18
Summary
Gulf producers are accelerating pipelines and export links around the Strait of Hormuz after fighting near-closed a route that normally carries about 20% of global oil supply.
Oil remains tight because traffic through the strait has collapsed to about 13 ships a day from more than 100 before the conflict, pushing crude to roughly $89 a barrel and U.S. gasoline to $4.06.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq and Jordan already have or are planning bypass capacity, including Saudi’s 7 million-barrel-a-day East-West line and a UAE project set to lift Fujairah exports to 3.6 million barrels a day.
Analysts said those alternatives could eventually replace most lost flows, but building enough infrastructure would take two to five years, require heavy investment and leave sites and workers exposed to attack.
The longer-term fix is also fragile because many bypass routes still rely on Red Sea tanker traffic, where Houthi attacks could shift the chokepoint rather than eliminate it.