BEFORE THE war between Iran and the USA, Middle Eastern countries supplied about 23 million barrels per day (bpd) to the global market. Since then, the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for oil shipping, has remained partially or fully closed for longer periods. Shipment volume through the Strait of Hormuz has not yet returned to pre-war levels. According to Kpler data published on 20 October 2026, the Strait is carrying about 14 million bpd, which is about 82% of pre-war levels.
It means oil supply from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz is still being disrupted, and many countries are now trying to set up new pipelines or expand the capacity of current pipelines that can bypass the Strait. The major efforts include expanding the capacity of the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, the Saudi Arabia East-West Crude Oil Pipeline, and the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, and setting up new pipelines such as the Iraq Basra-Haditha Pipeline and Kuwait integration negotiations to plug into its neighbours’ expanding networks.
The major concerns remain as to whether the efforts of bypassing the disrupted chokepoints through the pipelines will be enough to mitigate the oil supply shortages.
The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline is a 380-kilometer-long pipeline that connects Habshan fields to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. It can bypass the Strait of Hormuz by carrying oil for the UAE and allowing tankers to load on the Indian Ocean side without entering the Persian Gulf. Currently, it carries up to 1.8 million bpd. The UAE is actively building a second crude oil pipeline parallel to the existing line to double the capacity to 3.6 million bpd and is expected to be operational by 2027.
The major alternative pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz is the 1200-kilometer-long Petroline that runs from the Abqaiq oil field in the Eastern Province to Yanbu port at the Red Sea. The pipeline has a maximum capacity of carrying seven million bpd.
However, the effective export flows fluctuate based on regional security, reaching up to 5.8 million bpd following system restorations after recent drone strikes. Saudi Aramco is currently running engineering studies to aggressively expand this capacity to 10 million bpd over the next two to three years.
The other pipelines to bypass the Strait include the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline that runs from Kirkuk in Iraq to Ceyhan in Turkey. It currently carries about 170 thousand bpd. However, a recent agreement between Iraq and Turkey allows capacity to be improved to 750 thousand bpd sooner and continues to be further improved to 1.5 million bpd in the future.
In May 2026, Iraq started construction to lay the groundwork for a new Iraq Basra-Haditha pipeline that can route 2.5 million bpd and connect oil fields around Iraq's southern city of Basra to Jordan's Red Sea port city of Aqaba. Further, Kuwait is actively negotiating to plug into its neighbours’ expanding networks, such as Saudi Arabia’s and the UAE’s pipelines, to secure an escape route for its two million bpd output.
The other efforts to bypass the Strait of Hormuz include Oman’s multimodal corridors. Oman is leveraging its direct Indian Ocean coastline by opening land-based freight, trucking, and storage networks to seamlessly pull UAE and wider Gulf cargo around Hormuz.
The new and improved pipelines could play a major role in restoring oil supply by bypassing disrupted shipping chokepoints and keeping exports flowing through alternative ports. Effectively, all these efforts could lead to achieving oil supply nearly at pre-war levels. Diversifying shipping routes through these pipelines improves supply chain resilience by reducing dependence on a single passage.
Expanding pipeline capacity and connecting producing fields to additional export terminals can ease transport bottlenecks and allow oil that would otherwise be stranded to reach consumers. These alternatives could be a long-lasting solution to manage disruption in shipping chokepoints in the Middle Eastern region.
Although these pipelines offer hope for restoring oil supply, significant challenges remain. Bringing new and expanded pipelines into full operation will take time, while bottlenecks at port operations could continue to constrain supply.
Pipelines also remain vulnerable to drone and missile attacks. In addition, delays in tanker loading and unloading, poor synchronisation between pipeline flows and tanker operations, operational inefficiencies, and limited port storage capacity could restrict their effectiveness.
Despite several challenges, Middle Eastern oil producers need reliable and long-lasting alternative shipping routes that reduce their dependence on disrupted shipping chokepoints. In this context, these pipelines could provide a light of hope for billions of global consumers.