Officials and energy industry leaders in the region believe that building new oil and gas pipelines may be the only option to minimize the risk of supply disruption through the Strait of Hormuz. However, these are expensive, politically complex projects and may take many years to complete.
The current reality further highlights the role of Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline. Built in the 1980s after the fear of a "tanker war" in the Iran-Iraq war, this approximately 1,200km long pipeline currently transports up to 7 million barrels of oil per day from the Gulf to the Red Sea, completely avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.
Looking back, it is a genius move," a senior energy leader in the region said. Saudi Arabian oil and gas group Aramco General Director, Amin Nasser, also affirmed that this pipeline is the "main transport axis" in the current context.
Faced with increasing risks, Riyadh is considering expanding the capacity of the East-West route or building new pipelines to transport more of its total output of more than 10 million barrels/day without passing through sensitive waters.
Not only Saudi Arabia, many Gulf countries are also recalculating plans that were previously stalled due to high costs and technical obstacles. According to experts, regional thinking is clearly changing from "paper" ideas to practical implementation options.
One of the directions mentioned is to build a multinational pipeline network instead of just a single route. However, this is also the most difficult scenario because it requires deep political coordination between countries.
In the longer term, these pipelines could become part of a large trade corridor connecting India through the Middle East to Europe. However, options such as pulling pipelines to Israel's Haifa port still face many political sensitivities.
Some experts believe that pipelines heading to the Mediterranean - through Israel or Egypt - will sooner or later be built, to help countries better control their energy destiny without being dependent on bottlenecks.
However, barriers are still very large. The cost of recreating a similar East-West route can currently be at least 5 billion USD, while transnational projects can cost 15-20 billion USD. Not to mention security risks such as unexploded bombs and mines, the activities of armed groups or harsh terrain also make the problem complicated.
Even routes down to Oman are not completely safe, as ports like Salalah have recently been temporarily closed due to unmanned aerial vehicle attacks.
In the short term, a more feasible solution could be to expand existing routes, such as Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline or the oil pipeline from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah. At the same time, the development of more export ports in the Red Sea, including a project in the future city of Neom, is also being considered.
