UAE eyes first multifuel pipeline as Hormuz crisis drags on
State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is considering building a refined oil products pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Arab Emirates is planning its first multifuel pipeline to enable exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, reflecting how Gulf energy producers are adapting to a prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz.
What happened: State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is considering building a refined oil products pipeline that bypasses the strategic waterway, the company’s executive vice president for trading, Philippe Khoury, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday. The project forms part of a broader effort to secure more resilient export routes amid ongoing regional instability.
Khoury said ADNOC is working "to ensure that if the crisis continues longer, as we think it might, we still have the ability to supply our customers in an efficient and competitive manner.”
Why it matters: Transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and the UAE, has been severely restricted by the US-Israel-Iran war that began on Feb. 28. The near-total closure of this key choke point — which in peacetime saw a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments pass through it — has prompted Middle Eastern crude producers like the UAE to urgently seek alternative export routes. The disruption has triggered the biggest energy supply shock in decades, while the UAE has also faced repeated Iranian attacks, including on its energy infrastructure.
