For decades, the Persian Gulf’s energy map converged on a single chokepoint: the Strait of Hormuz. Now, spurred by the Iran war, the region’s petrostates are rushing to draw new lines to circumvent it.
Across the Gulf, governments are pouring billions into new oil pipelines, rail corridors and energy storage hubs to bypass the waterway in what is set to become one of the most durable outcomes of the conflict. The new energy links are part of a broader redrawing of the region’s logistics map, shifting trade toward trucking, rail and new ports.
“The legacy of the crisis will result in the construction of infrastructure to bypass the Strait of Hormuz,” said Hamad Hussain, commodities economist at London-based research firm Capital Economics. “The genie is out of the bottle given that the longstanding threat of Iran effectively closing the strait has now materialized.”