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Alternate Oil Routes Making the Strait of Hormuz Irrelevant?

(Foreign Policy) Gal Luft - The more desperate the Iranians become, the more aggressively they threaten to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40% of the world's seaborne oil passes each day. In fact, talk of closure has already made the Strait of Hormuz increasingly irrelevant. In recent weeks, two pipelines that bypass the Strait have become operational. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline can now pump 1.5 million barrels per day from Habshan in Abu Dhabi some 230 miles south to Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. Saudi Arabia in June reopened the Iraq Pipeline through Saudi Arabia (IPSA), which was confiscated from Iraq in 2001 and travels from Iraq across Saudi Arabia to a Red Sea port north of Yanbu. This pipeline will be able to carry 1.65 million barrels per day. Together, these two pipelines could eventually reduce oil traffic in the Strait by 25%. But this is only the beginning. At least two more projects connecting Saudi Arabia to Oman and Yemen are under consideration.
2012-07-20 00:00:00
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