British media reveal that Gulf countries are considering building a new oil pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz

On the 2nd, the British newspaper Financial Times reported that, due to the “uncertain outlook” for the Strait of Hormuz, some Gulf countries are considering building new oil pipelines to bypass the strait and export oil and natural gas. Gulf officials and industry executives said that building new pipelines might be the only way, but the project is costly, the political environment is complicated, and it will take several years to complete. The report said the current Iran conflict highlights the strategic value of Saudi Arabia’s east-west oil pipeline, which is about 1,200 kilometers long. Built in the 1980s, the pipeline delivers 7 million barrels of crude oil per day to Yanbu port on the Red Sea. Today, Saudi Arabia is considering how to export more crude oil via pipelines, including studying further expansion of the east-west pipeline’s capacity or opening up new oil transport routes. Previously, there were also multiple proposed pipeline construction plans in the region, but all of them were shelved due to high costs and complex engineering. Christopher Bush, CEO of Minmetals Group, a private company in Lebanon and one of the main contractors for Saudi Arabia’s east-west oil pipeline, said that even before the Iran conflict, there was strong interest from all parties in new pipeline projects, but high costs, safety risks, and political challenges have posed obstacles to moving the projects forward.(Xinhua News Agency)