Pipeline Bypassing Hormuz to Be Finished This Year, U.A.E. Says - BusinessWeek

A pipeline to send oil from the United Arab Emirates directly to the Indian Ocean, instead of being shipped by tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, is likely to be finished this year, said Mohamed Al-Hamli, oil minister of the United Arab Emirates.

The $3.3 billion pipeline to the U.A.E.’s easternmost emirate, Fujairah, aims to “bypass” the Strait and it will carry about 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, Al-Hamli said in an interview in Washington.

The waterway is a chokepoint at the mouth of the Persian Gulf for a fifth of the world’s oil supplies. Iran has threatened to block the waterway if attacked because of its nuclear program.