How oil producers are trying to avoid the Strait of Hormuz 'choke point'

[nitpicked]

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cd70wzw9vqlt
(snip)

Saudi Arabia is ramping up oil flows through its East-West pipeline network as Gulf producers scramble to keep exports moving.

The 750 mile (1200km) pipeline carries crude from fields in the Persian Gulf to export terminals on the Red Sea, allowing shipments to bypass the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world’s most important energy choke points.

Before the current crisis, the East-West Saudi pipeline was transporting about 2.8 million barrels of oil a day. Saudi oil giant Aramco's boss confirmed on Tuesday that they are now pushing flows towards its maximum capacity of about 7 million barrels a day as tankers shift loading operations to the kingdom’s Red Sea ports.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the few Gulf producers with pipelines designed to partially bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE’s Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline can transport about 1.8 million barrels a day to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. But even at full capacity, the pipelines operated by Saudi Arabia and the UAE would move less than half the crude that typically flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
(snip)

[Goonch]

1. ;-{)....

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Why No Canal Exists Around the Strait of Hormuz 🚢

I was wondering the same thing.

Link to tweet

[maxsolomon]

4. There is no need for one

but for this conflict.

[Wuddles440]

3. That may work for transports going north...

through the Suez Canal, but could have a potential obstacle in the southern route with the Houthis in Yemen.

[lees1975]

5. Doesn't really matter to us, since our Saudi oil comes through Suez.

Why would a tanker bound for the US add a trip around the horn of Africa or a 5,000 mile trip across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific when they can come through Suez, into the Med, and then across the Atlantic?

And I seriously doubt whether the Houthis could be much more than a small nuisance. They tried some stuff and got pounded for it.

[Wuddles440]

6. Actually, it absolutely matters to "us".

Like I stated in my original comment, it doesn't necessarily affect transports north, but does those going south for Asian markets. Oil is a global commodity and traded as such (WTI, Brent, and OPEC) so even if the access to the US market is not seriously disrupted, supply to other significant markets are being dramatically impacted and the price of spot crude escalates dramatically. Also, the Saudis rely on a pipeline to transport oil to their terminal on the Red Sea which exposes another potential vulnerability. Along with the Saudis, Iraq is a major contributor to oil imports into the US and they don't have access to the Saudi pipeline. And while oil may be the major focus of this conflict, there are many other commodities such as sulphur that are negatively impacted by such a disruption and critical to the US and the overall global economy.

[lees1975]

7. Oh, but Trump has stopped the embargo of Russian oil so Asian markets have another source.

It's all a rip off