From Syria to UAE, the race to bypass Strait of Hormuz is on

From Syria to UAE, the race to bypass Strait of Hormuz is on The Middle East is entering a pipeline-building boom from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, as Arab oil producers rush to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is fighting to exert its dominance over global energy flows. Tens of billions of dollars will be spent in the coming years to bypass the chokepoint where the US and Iran are battling for control, experts say. And while the Middle East has a recent history of grandiose infrastructure projects that fizzle out, this time the commitments to rewire the flow of oil are real.

“When we speak to our customers in the region, they say they never want to deal with this again,” Artem Abramov, the deputy head of analysis at Rystad Energy, told Middle East Eye. From Syria to UAE, the race to bypass Strait of Hormuz is on Submitted by Sean Mathews on Wed, 07/22/2026 - 18:46 A Houthi blockade against Saudi Arabian shipping underscores how new pipelines and export routes remain vulnerable A handout picture provided by energy giant Saudi Aramco shows one of its engineers at Yanbu refinery in Saudi Arabia's Medina province, on 16 January 2011 (Joe Lynch/Saudi Aramco/AFP) Off The Middle East is entering a pipeline-building boom from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, as Arab oil producers rush to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is fighting to exert its dominance over global energy flows. “These bypass projects will move forward.” The UAE is building a second pipeline to the port of Fujairah to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, doubling its export capacity by 2027.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Meanwhile, Iraq - the second-largest producer in the oil cartel Opec - signed a deal with Syria in July to rehabilitate a pipeline from its northern oil fields to Syria’s Mediterranean coast. MEE was the first to reveal the project and its US backing. Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline has emerged as the model for the region.

It brings crude from the Gulf coast to the kingdom's Red Sea. Riyadh is also eyeing ways to boost its capacity, further diluting its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. But the reconfiguring of oil flows is already positioning winners and losers.

'Kuwait and Bahrain are the biggest losers' The war has effectively cemented Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the region’s main power brokers and most dependable producers, while the vulnerabilities of smaller states like Kuwait and Bahrain have been exposed. “UAE and Saudi will realise the biggest windfalls from this. Kuwait and Bahrain are the biggest losers,” Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group who specialises in energy and Iran, …