Beyond Hormuz: How the Gulf is rewriting the global energy map

The Strait of Hormuz is no longer just a strategic vulnerability—it’s becoming a catalyst for one of the biggest shifts in Middle Eastern energy infrastructure in decades.

Projects once viewed as contingency plans are now strategic priorities. Gulf states, energy companies and logistics operators are accelerating investments in pipelines, ports and overland corridors designed to reduce reliance on the world’s most important energy chokepoint.

According to the International Energy Agency, only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates currently have operational infrastructure capable of bypassing Hormuz, and even that falls well short of the volumes that normally transit the Strait.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE move first

Saudi Arabia remains best positioned thanks to its East-West pipeline, which links eastern oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu and can transport around 7 million barrels per day. Riyadh is increasingly shifting exports and refining capacity westwards, reducing its dependence on Gulf shipping routes.

The UAE is pursuing a similar strategy. Abu Dhabi is expanding the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, with plans to double capacity by 2027 while bypassing Hormuz entirely. DP World is also expanding Fujairah’s port, while nearby Khor Fakkan is being developed into a larger logistics hub serving the Indian Ocean.

Not every Gulf state has alternatives

Elsewhere, the picture is more challenging.

Iraq is advancing its Development Road corridor linking Basra to Turkey, while the long-discussed Basra-Aqaba pipeline to Jordan has regained political momentum. Both, however, remain years away from completion.

Kuwait and Qatar remain among the most exposed, with few viable alternatives to Hormuz for energy exports.

Oman, meanwhile, is strengthening its position through the Port of Duqm, whose location on the Arabian Sea places it outside the Strait altogether and makes it increasingly attractive for energy, industry and logistics investment.

New corridors reshape trade

The shift extends beyond pipelines.

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) continues to gather political backing from the EU, India, the Gulf states and the United States, while the Gulf Railway and other regional transport links are gradually reshaping how goods and energy move across the region.

Although these projects will take years to complete, the direction of travel is becoming clearer.

A permanent strategic shift

Oil and gas production will remain concentrated in the Gulf. What is changing is where those resources are stored, refined and exported.

More activity is moving towards the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman and emerging overland corridors, reducing the concentration of risk around a single maritime chokepoint.

The immediate crisis may have accelerated this transition, but the infrastructure now being built suggests something far more enduring: the future of Middle Eastern energy will be defined by diversification rather than dependence on Hormuz alone.