Expanding existing oil pipelines as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz will be a major focus of talks on Monday in Paris between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, French sources have said.
Global oil export routes have been reshaped by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Israel launched their war on the country in February. About 20 per cent of global crude oil was shipped through the narrow waterway before the conflict.
"This is an important topic," an adviser to Mr Macron said, discussing alternative routes to the Strait before the Crown Prince's visit.
"There are options for bypassing the usual routes via alternative port networks...There are also existing projects involving pipelines — whether new construction, capacity upgrades, or twinning — in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere."
The Crown Prince officially begins his two-day visit to Paris on Sunday night by co-hosting with the French President the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup . It is the first time that the event is being held outside Saudi Arabia. Mr Macron and the Crown Prince have not held talks in person since December 2024, when the French President travelled to Riyadh.
Bilateral meetings and a business forum are to be held on Monday, during which the Iran war and its regional repercussions will be at the top of the agenda. "It's difficult to see a way out" of the conflict, which has been dragging on for months, Mr Macron's adviser said.
New export routes
The French leader scored a short-lived diplomatic victory when US President Donald Trump signed an interim agreement – described as a memorandum of understanding – with Iran aimed towards ending the war at Versailles Palace outside Paris, on the heels of the G7.
A few weeks later, Mr Trump declared the agreement "over" when Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz resumed. Iran-US peace talks are currently in limbo.
Earlier this month, Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil-exporting company, said it was studying an expansion of its East-West pipeline, which connects Abqaiq in the east to Yanbu on the Red Sea, and the establishment of new export routes, after Yemen's Houthi rebels joined Iran's pressure campaign on maritime transport in the region by launching attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure.
Alternative routes include the Sumed pipeline that stretches from the Gulf of Suez to Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea and the UAE's Habshan–Fujairah pipeline, often referred to as the West–East crude oil pipeline.
"A great many initiatives are at various stages of development," the adviser to Mr Macron said. "The goal, naturally, is to identify which ones are most strategic for the countries involved – and where we can position ourselves and our companies – so we can work together to secure financing and bring these projects to fruition."
They added that while they would not give further details on ongoing work on alternative routes, "this work with the Saudis is quite advanced".
"It has been a driving force behind our bilateral relations with countries in the region over the past few months, and it is work we will continue to pursue in the months ahead," they said.
While Europe is not involved in the regional conflict, France, along with the UK, has led efforts on the continent to co-ordinate diplomatic initiatives to de-escalate tension in the Gulf. In June, Oman's leader, Sultan Haitham, visited Paris and London to hold talks on securing maritime routes. At the time, Marseille-based shipping giant CMA CGM signed a $500 million deal to help structure new logistics corridors in Oman.
The adviser to Mr Macron said that this had contributed "significantly" to efforts to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, since Omani ports are not in the Arabian Gulf but instead face the Arabian Sea. Oman and Iran share territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz and have been trying to strike a deal on navigation through the area.
