Hormuz Strait: Hormuz Strait closed, world troubled by oil crisis is now looking for new alternative routes

Hormuz Strait Oil Route Crisis: The closure of one of the world’s most important energy routes has created a crisis. Iran has completely held this important route hostage for the last two months. This global Hormuz Strait oil crisis is now taking a very serious form. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas regularly passes through this route.

The Navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has laid terrible mines in this important route. Because of this, this entire shipping route has now turned into a dangerous gunpowder dump. In response, the US Navy has also imposed a strict ban on many merchant ships bound for Iran. The International Energy Agency has called it the biggest and worst supply shock in history.

exploring new paths

Global oil markets have been badly shaken due to the complete closure of Hormuz. Oil companies around the world have now started rapidly looking for new paths. They are searching for safe routes that do not pass through this dangerous waterway at all.

saudi arabia pipeline

Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline plays a very important role from the Gulf to the Red Sea. This 1200 km long pipeline can easily transport up to 7 million barrels of crude oil every day. However, at present only about 45 lakh barrels of oil actually comes out safely.

Habshan and Kirkuk route

The Habshan-Fujairah pipeline is a 350 km long shortcut that goes directly to the Gulf of Oman. The capacity of this Abu Dhabi pipeline, which started in 2012, is about 15 to 18 lakh barrels per day. At the same time, the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline is currently sending about 1.7 lakh barrels of oil to the Mediterranean Sea every day.

expansion of pipelines

A firm promise has been made to reach this supply of oil up to 2.5 lakh barrels through the Kirkuk route. Testing of Jask Terminal was done in the year 2024, whose total capacity is also said to be 10 lakh barrels. This potential lifeline provides easy access to this new Jask terminal located directly on the Gulf of Oman.

Proposed new projects

Iraq last year mooted the idea of ​​building a new pipeline from Basra to the Gulf of Oman. Apart from this, the Iraq-Jordan pipeline with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day was also approved in 2022. However, this project of the 1980s has been stalled due to major constraints like cost and safety.

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idea of ​​building a canal

There is also a big idea going on to build a Gulf-Oman Sea Canal on the lines of Suez and Panama Canal. This special canal will prove to be an excellent option to bypass Hormuz completely. However, the cost of this important project to be built by cutting the mountains will be hundreds of billions of dollars.