Blockade for several months Strait of Hormuz forcing the countries of the Persian Gulf to look for new routes for oil exports.
A narrow sea passage between Iran and Oman is one of the most important routes for oil transportation. Before the attack SAD i Israel, about a fifth of the world's oil exports were transported through the strait from the Persian Gulf to Europe, Asia and North America.
Although the United States and Iran have signed a declaration of intent to reopen the waterway, container ships still cannot pass freely today.
Alternative routes across the Red Sea have gained importance for Saudi Arabia. Crude oil is transported via the East-West Pipeline from the kingdom's eastern oil fields to the Saudi port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. This ensured the export of oil.
According to data from the traffic monitoring platform IMF PortWatch, Saudi exports from the Persian Gulf coast in April and May fell to a paltry 6,3 million tonnes โ from 47,5 million tonnes in the same period a year earlier.
At the same time, exports via the Red Sea increased from 29,6 million to 54,8 million tons. The difference of 25,2 million tons made up for about 61 percent of the exports lost on the East Coast.
Photo: Mirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via APIranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz
Houthis declare blockade
Although Yemen's pro-Iranian Houthi rebels recently imposed a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, its ramifications were not entirely clear at first.
The armed group operates at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, on the northern side of the Bab el Mandeb Strait.
In July, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Saudi oil tanker Enselia in the Red Sea. As an explanation, the Shia rebels stated that the ship violated their declared "blockade".
And the United Emirates wants to build an additional oil pipeline in the east-west direction, parallel to the existing oil pipeline Abin Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), which connects the Habshan oil and gas field in the Persian Gulf with the port city of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman.
That city has important deep-water facilities leading directly to the Indian Ocean.
Although Fujairah is located outside the Persian Gulf, the city is still close to Iran. The port and container ships have already been the target of Iranian drone attacks, which is why, according to the data IMF PortWatch, the amount of transhipped cargo in April and May fell by 80 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
The construction of a cross-border oil pipeline would cost ten billion dollars
That is why new cross-border oil pipelines that would connect several countries, for example from the southern Iraqi city of Basra on the Persian Gulf to the Jordanian port city of Aqaba on the Red Sea, are increasingly being sought.
However, the construction of such a pipeline would cost up to ten billion US dollars.
Economist Hasan Mansur says the construction would take at least five years.
According to Mansour's estimate, an even longer parallel pipeline along the Persian Gulf, from Iraq's Basra through Kuwait and the Emirates to Oman on the Indian Ocean, would cost twice as much.
All countries along the coast would have to invest large financial resources, considering the threat from Iran.
"At the end of the day, those projects cannot solve the immediate problem of the international oil market," Mansour told DW.
Photo: Graphics/DW/ScreenshotOil pipelines Middle East
"Those pipelines can reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz," believes Tehran political scientist Rahman Gahremanpour, "but they themselves are vulnerable in wartime conditions."
Iranian drones and paramilitary forces from Yemen could, namely, reach the Omani port city of Fujairah and the Red Sea area. "Ports, terminals and oil pipelines can also be exposed to attacks."
Countries like Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, which export energy exclusively through seaports in the Persian Gulf, would still remain dependent on the Strait of Hormuz, Gahremanpour concludes.
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