UAE speeds up oil pipeline project to bypass Hormuz

Where Diplomacy Meets News

UAE speeds up oil pipeline project to bypass Hormuz

May 15, 2026

DUBAI,— The United Arab Emirates will speed up construction of a new oil pipeline to double export capacity through Fujairah by 2027, the government’s Abu Dhabi Media Office said Friday, expanding bypass options around the Strait of Hormuz.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed instructed ADNOC to accelerate the West-East Pipeline project during an executive committee meeting, ADMO said.

The office said the pipeline is under construction and is expected to begin operating in 2027.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz since attacks by the United States and Israel on Feb. 28, disrupting roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies.

Energy prices have risen sharply, leading some countries to ration fuel and increasing concerns about an economic slowdown linked to inflation.

ADMO did not provide the original schedule for the project.

The UAE’s existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, also called the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, can transport as much as 1.8 million barrels per day.

The pipeline helps the UAE maximize crude exports from the Gulf of Oman coast.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only Gulf oil producers with pipelines capable of exporting crude outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Oman has a coastline on the Gulf of Oman, while Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain remain dependent on the strait for oil shipments.

The new UAE project is separate from Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser described as a critical lifeline.

Nasser said Aramco increased the East-West pipeline’s capacity to 7 million barrels per day within eight days, allowing about 60% of Saudi Arabia’s pre-war oil exports to continue moving.

The pipeline announcement came two weeks after the UAE left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, removing UAE oil production quotas.

The UAE’s energy minister told Reuters last year the country could raise production capacity to 6 million barrels per day if required. ADNOC is targeting production capacity of 5 million barrels per day by next year, a goal moved forward by three years.

ADNOC said in May 2024 that capacity had reached 4.85 million barrels per day.

ADNOC Drilling, one of the group’s six listed subsidiaries, is prepared to support any expansion required by ADNOC, the company’s finance chief told Reuters this week.

The UAE produced less than 3.4 million barrels per day in January before the war. Reuters reported in March that output dropped by more than half after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz forced ADNOC to shut production.

Fujairah is important for the UAE, including non-oil exports because the country depends heavily on imported food.

The port has faced several attacks that the UAE blamed on Iran, causing suspensions of oil loadings in April. Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, where the East-West pipeline ends, was also attacked.

Reuters reported this month that the UAE and its oil buyers moved several tankers through the strait with location trackers turned off to avoid Iranian attacks while transporting oil stranded in the Gulf during the regional conflict.

(With files from Reuters)