Reuters reported on March 19 that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were leaning on overland export routes to reduce exposure to shipping disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. The key alternatives are Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline to the Red Sea and the UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which allows crude exports to move to the Gulf of Oman without transiting Hormuz.

The infrastructure matters because it turns Hormuz risk into a capacity question rather than an all-or-nothing export cutoff. Cyberwarzone has already tracked the maritime side of the crisis in our report on the new Gulf safe sea corridor and the energy side in our article on Iran warning Gulf energy sites to evacuate after the South Pars strike.

What the bypass routes can and cannot do

Reuters reported that the pipeline routes provide Gulf producers with an alternative to direct tanker traffic through Hormuz, but they do not eliminate exposure. The East-West pipeline and the Habshan-Fujairah line reduce dependence on the choke point, yet both remain partial workarounds rather than full replacements for normal Gulf shipping volumes.

The pipeline shift sits inside the same regional adaptation already visible elsewhere. Cyberwarzone has already covered the safe sea corridor, Iran’s warning to evacuate Gulf energy sites, and the strike on South Pars. Gulf producers are not assuming Hormuz will remain usable on normal terms.

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