Gulf States Accelerate Hormuz Bypass Infrastructure Amid 2026 Disruptions, Signaling Structural Energy Security Shift

Recent reporting confirms that the United Arab Emirates is advancing plans to achieve 'zero Hormuz dependency' through expanded pipelines, ports, and transport links on its eastern coast, independent of the Strait's status. UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi stated in a Bloomberg interview: 'We’re moving toward having zero Hormuz dependency and that’s regardless of whether it’s open or not.'[1][2]

This aligns with a broader regional response to the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, during which Iran restricted shipping flows following US-Iran conflict. Abu Dhabi has fast-tracked a second crude pipeline to Fujairah, with construction already ~50% complete and targeting doubled export capacity (building on the existing Habshan-Fujairah line of ~1.8 million bpd) by 2027.[3][4] Additional reviews for petrochemicals, LNG, and new harbors on the Gulf of Oman are underway.

Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline (Petroline) ramped up to its full 7 million bpd capacity during the disruption, routing oil from Persian Gulf fields to Red Sea terminals at Yanbu.[5][6] Kuwait has held talks with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on potential cross-border pipelines to further diversify options.[7] Iraq is accelerating shipments via the Kurdistan-Turkey network.

These developments, corroborated across Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, Al Jazeera, The National, and Financial Times, indicate a physical rewiring of export routes that could diminish the strategic leverage of the Hormuz chokepoint over time. While LNG and non-oil commodities remain harder to reroute, the infrastructure push reflects a long-term adaptation to repeated chokepoint vulnerabilities.