UAE Oil Pipeline to Bypass Hormuz Reaches 50% Completion Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. May 20, 2026 © Adobe Stock/Jorge Moro The UAE's new crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is about 50% complete, the head of ADNOC said on Wednesday, adding that global oil flows may take at least four months to recover to 80% of pre-conflict levels after the Iran war ends. Tehran has largely kept the waterway critical for global oil and gas supplies shut to all ships other than its own since U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, sending energy prices and inflation surging and fanning fears of an economic downturn. The Abu Dhabi Media Office revealed the existence of the new West-East Pipeline project last week, saying Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed directed state-owned oil giant ADNOC to fast-track its construction in order to double export capacity via the port of Fujairah by 2027. "Today, it's already almost 50% complete, and we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027," Sultan Al Jaber said during a live-streamed Atlantic Council event, among his most extensive public remarks since the war began. "Right now, too much of the world's energy still moves through too few choke points. 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 existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), which carries up to 1.8 million barrels per day, has proved crucial as the UAE seeks to maximise exports from the Gulf of Oman coast just outside the Strait. Iran, which has attacked vessels to assert control over the Strait, has expanded its definition of the waterway to include the UAE's Gulf of Oman coastline. The U.S. has imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports and attempted an aborted operation to reopen the chokepoint. UAE TARGETED Gulf Arab countries, which host U.S. military bases, have come under attack during the conflict, even since the fragile ceasefire that began on April 8. Th