The United Arab Emirates has reached the halfway mark on a new crude oil pipeline designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, ADNOC Chief Executive Sultan Al Jaber said Wednesday.
Al Jaber, speaking at a live-streamed Atlantic Council event, said the West-East Pipeline is "already almost 50% complete, and we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027." The project was publicly disclosed last week by the Abu Dhabi Media Office, which said the UAE will speed up construction to double export capacity through Fujairah port by 2027.
According to the Abu Dhabi Media Office, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed instructed ADNOC to accelerate the West-East Pipeline project during an executive committee meeting. The move comes as Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz largely closed to non-Iranian vessels since U.S.-Israeli strikes in February, a development that has pushed energy prices and inflation higher and raised concerns about broader economic effects.
"Right now, too much of the world’s energy still moves through too few choke points. That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz," Al Jaber said.
The existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, commonly known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, has a transportation capacity of up to 1.8 million barrels per day. ADNOC has relied on that route to boost exports from the Gulf of Oman coast outside the strait, and officials say the new work will further expand throughput to Fujairah.
Al Jaber also reported that some ADNOC facilities were directly targeted and that portions of infrastructure were struck. He said damage assessments are underway and that returning sites to full operational capacity will vary - taking weeks in some cases and months in others.
With the project now at approximately 50% completion and official instructions to accelerate delivery, the UAE is moving to increase export flexibility and reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. Progress toward the 2027 delivery window will be closely watched as repair work at damaged facilities continues and as the political and maritime situation around the strait remains constrained.
Reporting note: The statements above reflect comments made by ADNOC leadership and disclosures from the Abu Dhabi Media Office as reported publicly.