Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
צילום: AP
Oil pipelines to bypass Iranian threats
While Revolutionary Guards threaten to 'freeze' Europe by cutting off energy supply, UAE plans pipelines to run through areas not under Iranian control
Threats made by Iran's Revolutionary Guard to cut Europe's energy supply in the middle of winter if the six nations decide to impose additional sanctions on its nuclear program have not fallen on deaf ears.
An ambitious project by the United Arab Emirates plans to bypass the threat by running a gas and oil pipeline 375 kilometers long from Habshan in Abu Dhabi to the coast of the Persian Gulf, specifically a port belonging to the emirate of Fujairah.
Iran is currently in possession of close to 20% of the world's natural gas. In addition, it borders the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 35-40% of the world's oil passes. The threat to shut off the strait is what caused nations in the region to invest billions of dollars in the bypassing pipeline.
The UAE says the pipeline will be completed by 2011, at which point it will be able to export the oil in its possession (around 60% of the global supply) without using the Strait of Hormuz.
Eight terminals along the way will be used to store barrels of oil, and Fujairah will be equipped with a modern and expensive port. Six other pipelines are also in the works.
According to the plans, one of the pipelines will be 2,500 km long and pass through Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, and end in Oman's Muscat port. Estimates say it will take around a decade to complete and will furnish the world with five million barrels a day.
Doron Peskin is head of research at Info-Prod Research (Middle East) Ltd.
