How oil producers are trying to avoid the Strait of Hormuz 'choke point' [View all]

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cd70wzw9vqlt
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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.
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