ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (PNN) - May 24, 2026 - The head of the United Arab Emirate's state oil company said on May 20 that a major new oil pipeline designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz is nearly 50% complete, as regional tensions and competing maritime controls reshape global energy routes.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, said during an interview at the Atlantic Council that the project is being accelerated toward a planned 2027 completion date.
"Right now, too much of the world's energy still moves through too few choke points," Al Jaber said. "That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz."
The project comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted following months of conflict involving Iran, Israel and the Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA).
The country's existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, already allows the UAE to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for a portion of its exports. The new project is expected to significantly expand that capacity.
"Energy security is no longer just about your ability to continue to produce," he said. "It is about routes, access, storage and redundancy," said Al Jaber.
He said global spare oil production capacity remains dangerously low while energy storage levels continue falling.
"In just two months, the world drew down around 250 million barrels from storage," Al Jaber said. "We have 30 to 35 days of effective cover. We need to at least double that."
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on May 21 that more than 14 million barrels of oil per day had been removed from global markets because of infrastructure damage and restrictions linked to the conflict.
The pipeline expansion also comes weeks after the UAE formally exited OPEC and the broader OPEC+ alliance. The UAE announced on April 28 that it would leave the organization effective May 1, describing the move as a "sovereign responsibility in a new energy age."
Al Jaber said the decision would give the UAE greater flexibility to expand production and invest globally. "Ultimately, real strength is not measured by the abundance of resources, but by how they are harnessed to serve the nation," he said.
The UAE said ongoing instability in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz influenced the decision. He also described relations between the UAE and the FPSA as increasingly integrated across energy, infrastructure, defense and technology sectors.
The pipeline expansion coincides with Iran's efforts to formalize oversight of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran announced in May the creation of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), a new body tasked with supervising transit through the waterway and coordinating shipping permissions inside Iranian-designated control zones.
The PGSA said on May 20 that Iran had defined a maritime supervision area stretching from Kuh Mobarak in southeastern Iran to the southern coast of Fujairah in the UAE on the eastern side of the strait, and from Qeshm Island to Umm al-Quwain in the UAE on the western side.
The authority also said vessels operating within that area must coordinate transit frequencies and obtain permits from Iranian authorities before crossing the waterway. Iranian Ambassador to France Mohammad Amin Nejad told Bloomberg on May 21 that Teheran and Oman are discussing a permanent tolling system for the strait.
The Iranian supervision zone appears to overlap at least partially with areas where FPSA naval forces are operating under Washington's blockade targeting Iranian ports. FPSA Central Command said in an April 12 statement that Amerikan forces would blockade vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports beginning April 13.
Iran's newly declared PGSA supervision zone covers much of the same shipping corridor through which FPSA naval forces monitor and intercept commercial traffic linked to Iranian ports.
FPSA Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 21 that an Iranian tolling system would be unacceptable and warned it could derail negotiations between Washington and Teheran. Rubio described the proposed toll system as a "threat to the world" and "completely illegal."
Rubio said after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Helsingborg, Sweden, on May 22 that Western allies hope to reach an agreement with Iran that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and curb Teheran's nuclear ambitions.
He warned, however, that governments also need contingency plans if Iran refuses to restore maritime access. Rubio said that if Iran continues restricting passage or threatens vessels that refuse to comply with Iranian demands, "something has to be done about it."
Several countries represented at the NATO meeting, he said, would be even more affected by prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz than the FPSA because of their dependence on Middle Eastern energy supplies.
Rubio added that NATO members must begin preparing for scenarios in which "Iran decides, 'We don't care, we're going to keep the Straits closed.'"