page_title: Strait of Hormuz
section_title: Alternative shipping routes
hierarchical_section_title: Strait of Hormuz / Alternative shipping routes
caption_attribution_description: The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint because of the large volumes of oil that flow through the strait. &lt;a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39932" rel="noreferrer nofollow"&gt;www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39932&lt;/a&gt; June 20, 2019
context_page_description: The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman. The strait is about 90 nautical miles long, with a width varying from about 52 nautical miles to 21 nautical miles.
  A third of the world's liquefied natural gas and almost 25% of total global oil consumption passes through the strait, making it a highly important strategic location for international trade.
context_section_description: In June 2012, Saudi Arabia reopened the Iraq Pipeline through Saudi Arabia (IPSA), which was confiscated from Iraq in 2001 and travels from Iraq across Saudi Arabia to a Red Sea port. It will have a capacity of 1.65 million barrels per day.
  In July 2012, the UAE began using the new Habshan–Fujairah oil pipeline from the Habshan fields in Abu Dhabi to the Fujairah oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman, effectively bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. It has a maximum capacity of around 2 million barrels per day, over three-quarters of the UAE's 2012 production rate.  The UAE is also increasing Fujairah's storage and off-loading capacities. The UAE is building the world's largest crude oil storage facility in Fujairah with a capacity of holding 14 million barrels to enhance Fujairah's growth as a global oil and trading hub. The Habshan – Fujairah route secures the UAE's energy security and has the advantage of being a ground oil pipeline transportation which is considered the cheapest form of oil transportation and also reduces insurance costs as oil tankers would no longer enter the Persian Gulf.
  In a July 2012 Foreign Policy article, Gal Luft compared Iran and the Strait of Hormuz to the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles, a choke point for shipments of Russian grain a century ago.  He indicated that tensions involving the Strait of Hormuz are leading those currently dependent on shipments from the Persian Gulf to find alternative shipping capabilities.  He stated that Saudi Arabia was considering building new pipelines to Oman and Yemen, and that Iraq might revive the disused Iraq–Syria pipeline to ship crude to the Mediterranean.  Luft stated that reducing Hormuz traffic "presents the West with a new opportunity to augment its current Iran containment strategy."
caption: Map of the Habshan–Fujairah oil pipeline and the East-West Crude Oil Pipeline
exif: {}