Middle East chokepoints for supply of oil and gas and other trade volumes are in focus, as conflict between the US and Iran intensifies and shipping activity remains disrupted in the region.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which more than 20 per cent of global crude supply used to transit before the conflict, remains virtually shut and has triggered a global energy crisis.
Shipping traffic in the Bab Al Mandeb strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean has also been affected after attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
A Saudi oil tanker, Encelia, was attacked in the Red Sea on Wednesday, causing a fire in the bow. The Houthis also claimed to have attacked two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, raising the risk of disruption to oil supplies from a key chokepoint in the region. As many as nine tankers have made U-turns amid ongoing hostilities in the Red Sea.
“The closure of both the Bab al Mandab Strait and the Strait of Hormuz simultaneously will tighten physical oil markets critically,” Sasha Foss, energy analyst at CSC Commodities, a division of Marex told The National.
"The Suez Canal has a capacity of 5 million barrels per day but it would become too bottlenecked if all the supply is re-routed through it, and the natural short [way] for the product is Asia and not to the Mediterranean."
Countries are depending on oil pipelines to supply crude to global markets, with Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline and the UAE’s Habshan emerging as key alternative routes. New pipelines are planned to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, with Iraq announcing a new pipe this month.
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is an important route for the supply of crude oil and liquefied natural gas from the Middle East. Gulf countries, as well as Iraq, heavily relied on the waterway for the export of crude oil by sea before the conflict broke out on February 28. It also serves as an important gateway for container traffic for the import and export of goods from the region.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the Strait of Hormuz recorded 20.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil flows including 15.2 million bpd of crude oil and condensate and 5.5 million bpd of petroleum products, according to the US-based Energy Information Administration data. Oil flows fell to 14.6 million bpd as a result of the war in Iran in the first quarter of this year.
LNG flows, meanwhile, averaged 10.1 billion cubic feet per day in the fourth quarter, and it fell to 7.3 billion cfd in the first quarter. The strait also handles large volumes of container traffic.
Bab Al Mandeb
The Bab Al Mandeb strait carries about 12 per cent of global trade and a quarter of global container traffic. Oil flows through the strait averaged 9.3 million bpd in 2023, before the Houthi rebels' tanker campaign cut that to about 4.1 million bpd in 2024 and 4.2 million bpd in the first half of 2025, according to the EIA data.
Flows climbed back to about 7.4 million bpd in June, according to Kpler data. The higher volumes are a result of Saudi Arabia rerouting crude through its Red Sea terminals. With Hormuz already effectively shut since February, a full closure of the Bab Al Mandeb strait could put a quarter of the world's oil and gas supply at risk.
Suez Canal and Sumed pipeline
Total oil flows through the Suez Canal and the Sumed pipeline that stretches from the Gulf of Suez to Alexandria in the Mediterranean were about 5.1 million bpd in the fourth quarter. LNG flows through the Suez Canal reached 1.6 billion cubic feet per day during the period.
About 70 per cent of the oil shipped from the Arabian Gulf to Europe passes through the Sumed pipeline, which is jointly owned by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, Mubadala Energy, Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Investment Authority and Qatar Petroleum.
East West pipeline in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest producer, has the East-West crude pipeline connecting Abqaiq in the East to Yanbu on the Red Sea, with a total capacity of about 7 million bpd of crude oil.
There is also a natural gas liquids pipeline running parallel to the East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia, with a capacity of 300,000 bpd when fully utilised, according to the International Energy Agency's data.
The pipeline played a critical part in helping Saudi Arabia to export oil in the wake of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but recent Houthi attacks could reduce flows from the Bab Al Mandeb strait.
UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah pipeline and expansion
The Habshan–Fujairah pipeline, often referred to as the West–East crude oil pipeline, is one of the UAE’s most significant important energy projects. Developed by Adnoc, the pipeline was designed to transport crude from Abu Dhabi’s onshore Habshan fields to the Port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
Stretching more than 360km across the UAE, the 48 inch pipeline has the capacity to transport up to 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, representing a substantial share of the country’s total oil exports.
In May, the UAE announced the expansion of the West-East crude oil pipeline, by 2027, with the project expected to double export capacity through Fujairah.
Arab Gas pipeline
The Arab Gas pipeline, connecting Egypt to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, is an important pipeline network with a capacity of about 353 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year. An offshore extension of the pipeline, known as the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Pipeline, can also supply gas to Israel. The pipeline is mainly used to transport Egyptian gas to Jordan and other markets in the region.
New Iraq pipeline
The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz also prompted Jordan and Iraq to revive an old pipeline plan linking Basra in Iraq with the Port of Aqaba to enable Baghdad to export its crude and bypass the strait.
The project is expected to have two pipeline sections, with a 700km section that would connect the Rumaila oilfield near Basra to the western city of Haditha, with a capacity of 2.25 million bpd. The second section, running from Haditha to Aqaba, would carry one million bpd.
“Pipelines will allow bypassing of the Strait of Hormuz, so before they are completed is the point of maximum leverage for Iran,” Mr Foss, energy analyst at CSC Commodities, a division of Marex, said.
He added that “pipelines are static and [their] massive infrastructure makes them easy to target by drone strikes”.
