UAE Seeks To Double Oil Export Capacity, Bypassing Strait Of Hormuz With Pipeline By 2027

The United Arab Emirates is seeking to build an oil pipeline by 2027 which will enable them to bypass the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint and double their export capacity. The Gulf nation already operates an existing pipeline, but its export capacity has been reduced due to the closure of the strait.

“Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is accelerating the construction of a pipeline that runs to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from the emirate’s media office posted on X. The company already operates a 1.5 million barrel-a-day conduit from its oil fields to the port on its eastern coast, which has proved to be a lifeline during the Middle East conflict,” Yahoo Finance said Friday. “The existing pipeline has helped the UAE continue to supply markets, offsetting the hit to oil revenue as Iran practically shut the normal route through Hormuz soon after the war began in late February. Adnoc had already been planning the pipeline expansion as the current link can carry less than half of its normal export volumes.”

Iran effectively closed the strait following the U.S. and Israel launching a war against it on February 28.

“Iran’s closure of the strait, though which about a fifth of the world’s daily supply of oil and gas normally flow, has thrown economies into turmoil and upended shipments of products like metals, fertilizer and plastics. The U.S. has been imposing its own blockade for the past month aimed at halting shipments to or from Iranian ports,” Yahoo Finance said.

While the UAE aims to shift more of its oil export to a new pipeline, it is not without its own challenges.

Oil pipelines are large, stationary pieces of infrastructure which are vulnerable to attack. Ukraine demonstrated this when it hit the Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia in 2025. The U.S. destroyed the Nordstream 2 pipeline in 2022.

Tehran has already struck energy infrastructure in the UAE, proving the Islamic Republic is willing to attack U.S. Gulf allies.

While the UAE has begun construction on cages to protect some of its energy facilities, the logistics of similar structures being erected to protect pipelines remains to be seen.