UAE to speed up oil pipeline project to cross Strait of Hormuz | Oil and Gas News

The Crown Prince of the UAE says the project will help ‘meet global demand’.

The United Arab Emirates is pushing ahead with the construction of a new pipeline that will increase the volume of exports through Fujairah, the eastern port city of the country, as Gulf countries seek to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed announced the acceleration of the West-East Pipeline project to “satisfy international demand”, at a major meeting held by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on Friday.

The pipeline should be operational by 2027, the government’s Abu Dhabi Media Office said.

Sheikh Zayed said ADNOC “is the most responsible and reliable energy producer in the world, with the flexibility of operations to increase production to meet market needs where export constraints allow”.

The war between the United States and Israel over Iran shook the world’s energy chains.

With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – through which almost a fifth of the world’s oil previously passed – and Iran’s new maritime policy in the waterway, and the attack on energy, the Gulf countries were forced to find other marketing strategies storing oil and gas abroad.

Currently, the UAE has the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), a 380km (235-mile) pipeline that runs from Habshan, an oil and gas hub in the southwest of Abu Dhabi, to the port of Fujairah – which has recently attacked.

The pipeline, which began operating in 2012, has a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd). It is one of the main electricity routes in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia also has an East-West pipeline, designed to send the kingdom’s oil, located in the east of the country, through the west coast, which has not been affected by the Iran conflict.

The Saudi pipeline is 1,200km (745 miles) long, running from the Abqaia oil refinery to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. The CEO of oil giant Aramco Amin Nasser has called it a “critical step” for the kingdom.

Oman borders the Gulf of Oman and the main coastline outside the Strait of Hormuz, where Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, and Bahrain depend almost entirely on the waterway for their trade.

Last month, a The UAE has announced its departure from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to focus on “national interests”. The UAE said the move was part of its “long-term economic and financial vision and strong track record of change”.