Iran opens oil terminal in Gulf of Oman to bypass Strait of Hormuz

Authored by reuters.com and submitted by fiveMop

Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

DUBAI, July 22 (Reuters) - Iran has opened its first oil terminal in the Gulf of Oman, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday, to allow Iranian tankers to avoid using the strategically vulnerable Strait of Hormuz, which has been a focus of regional tension for decades.

"This is a strategic move and an important step for Iran. It will secure the continuation of our oil exports," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "This new crude export terminal shows the failure of Washington's sanctions on Iran."

Rouhani said Iran aimed to export 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Bandar-e Jask, a port on Iran’s Gulf of Oman coast, just south of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has often threatened to block the Strait if its crude exports were shutdown by U.S. sanctions, reimposed by Washington three years ago when then president Donald Trump abandoned Tehran's nuclear deal with six major powers.

Tehran and U.S. President Joe Biden's administration have been in indirect talks in Vienna since early April to revive the deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of most international sanctions.

"The implementation of the Goreh-Jask port crude oil transfer project took place with about $2 billion investment," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said, according to the ministry's SHANA website.

The Strait is a narrow channel at the mouth of the Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes from Middle East producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.

There have been periodic confrontations between Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and the U.S. military in the area.

Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Barbara Lewis & Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

purpleduckduckgoose on July 24th, 2021 at 14:41 UTC »

It seems that the Strait is a bit of a poisoned chalice for Iran. With the quantity of oil and natural gas passing through it, it gives Iran the potential to quite possibly hold the world to ransom with the threat to close the Strait. However, that level of denial is likely to bring the response of multiple nations including the US and perhaps even China. So they can't go quite that far. On the other hand, their aggressive posture over it really appears to be weakening their position instead of strengthening it. Saudi Arabia is operating the East-West Pipeline which also bypasses the Bab Al Mandab Strait, plus is apparently considering more pipelines to Oman and Yemen, the UAE has the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz entirely and Iraq is supposedly looking at reopening their pipeline into Syria to push crude straight to a Med port. If this continues then Iran's hand is only going to get weaker and less useful over time. What do they do if, due to EV/hydrogen/hybrid vehicles and non-oil or gas power generation being prevalent in enough numbers, even a full closure is a situation manageable globally? That may yet be decades away, but it draws nearer each day and with oil being piped past the Strait seemingly in ever greater amounts, what does hostile action in those waters achieve? It really does seem like the threat of action is greater than the action itself.

caffiend98 on July 24th, 2021 at 13:05 UTC »

Why does a reporter post stock photography of a tanker in this article, instead of a map? It's literally about strategic geography.

For other frustrated map nerds, here is an article with a map. It's worth at least a thousand words: https://www.worldoil.com/news/2021/5/31/iran-opens-new-oil-export-pipeline-bypassing-strait-of-hormuz

LoneStarDev on July 24th, 2021 at 03:53 UTC »

Submission Statement: “Iran has opened its first oil terminal in the Gulf of Oman, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday, to allow Iranian tankers to avoid using the strategically vulnerable Strait of Hormuz, which has been a focus of regional tension for decades.”

Opinion: This won’t really change anything, if the US wants to shut down ship transit (or realistically, stop patrolling an area for “reasons” and let pirates be pirates) they will.