New UAE oil pipeline circumventing Hormuz 50% complete, says CEO Sultan Al Jaber
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "New UAE oil pipeline circumventing Hormuz 50% complete, says CEO Sultan Al Jaber")
Sultan Al Jaber said the pipeline is almost 50% complete, and its delivery toward 2027 is being accelerated. Photograph: (AFP)
The Abu Dhabi Media Office revealed the existence of the new West-East Pipeline project last week, saying Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed directed state-owned oil giant ADNOC to fast-track its construction in order to double export capacity via the port of Fujairah by 2027.
The United Arab Emirate’s new crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is 50% complete, said ADNOCChief Executive Sultan Al Jaberon Wednesday. Al Jaber, who is also the UAE's minister of industry and advanced technology, further said that global oil flows may take at least four months to recover to 80% of pre-conflict levels after the Iran war ends.
Tehran has largely kept the critical waterway shut to all ships other than its own since US-Israeli strikes on February 28, sending energy prices and inflation surging and fanning fears of an economic downturn.
The Abu Dhabi Media Office revealed the existence of the new West-East Pipeline project last week, saying Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed directed state-owned oil giant ADNOC to fast-track its construction in order to double export capacity via the port of Fujairah by 2027.
“Today, it’s already almost 50% complete, and we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027,” Sultan Al Jaber said during a live-streamed Atlantic Council event.
“Right now, too much of the world’s energy still moves through too few choke points. That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.”
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The existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), which carries up to 1.8 million barrels per day, has proved crucial as the UAE seeks to maximise exports from the Gulf of Oman coast just outside the Strait.
Iran, which has attacked vessels to assert control over the Strait, has expanded its definition of the waterway to include the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coastline. Reacting to Iran’s hegemony on the crucial shipping route, the US imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports.
Gulf Arab countries, which host US military bases, have come under attack.
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The UAE was targeted by more than 3,000 missiles and drones aimed at civilian infrastructure, including ADNOC’s, where damage assessment is ongoing and full operational capacity could take weeks to months in some cases, Al Jaber said.
“The UAE was attacked for its model of development,” he said.
Al Jaber warned that even if the conflict ended tomorrow, the pre-conflict flows through the Strait would not return fully before the first or second quarter of 2027.
“Once you accept that a single country can hold the world’s most important waterway hostage, freedom of navigation as we know it is just finished,” he said.
“If we don’t defend this principle today, we will spend the next decade defending against the consequences.”
The accelerated pipeline timeline follows the UAE’s withdrawal effective May 1 from the de facto Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), freeing it from output quotas.
Al Jaber warned that the global sector remains dangerously under-invested, noting current upstream investment of around $400 billion a year barely offsets natural decline rates. The global spare crude capacity, currently around 3 million bpd, needs to be closer to 5 million bpd, he added.
