The United Arab Emirates’ new oil pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is almost 50% complete, according to Abu Dhabi state-owned oil company ADNOC.
Abu Dhabi said last week that it would fast-track the project’s construction, and is aiming for the pipeline to be operational in 2027. UAE oil exports have been disrupted since Iran began blocking the Strait of Hormuz in February.
“Right now, too much of the world’s energy still moves through too few choke points,” ADNOC CEO Sultan Al Jaber told the Atlantic Council. “That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, and it is why we moved ahead with our second pipeline in 2025.”
“Today, it’s already almost 50% complete, and we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027.”
The new pipeline would transport the UAE’s oil to the port of Fujairah, on the country’s east coast in the Gulf of Oman.
The pipeline would double the UAE’s export capacity through Fujairah, the UAE has said. Its current pipeline to Fujairah can carry up to 1.8 million barrels per day.
However, pre-Iran war oil flows will not resume for several months even after the strait reopens, said Al Jaber. “Even if this conflict ends tomorrow, it will take at least four months to get back to 80% of pre-conflict flows, and full flows will not retain before the first or even second quarter of 2027,” he said.
The UAE’s daily oil production reportedly fell by more than half in March, and OPEC output dropped to its lowest level in over two decades in April. The UAE left OPEC on 1 May.
According to Al Jaber, the world has lost more than one billion barrels of oil to the Strait of Hormuz’s closure since the Iran war began.
