Oil exporters scramble for routes beyond Hormuz — but there are no easy options

middle eastern oil and gas producers are still scrambling for export routes beyond the strait of hormuz, nearly two months after it was effectively shut to commercial traffic. the channel's double-blockade — iran blocking outbound traffic, the u.s. blockading iranian ports — has supercharged global energy prices. about 20% of the world's oil used to ship through the strait before the war. the iea's executive director fatih birol told cnbc he felt like a "broken record" telling countries to diversify supply routes for years. "the $110 trillion global economy can be taken hostage by a couple of hundred men with guns across a 50-kilometer stretch of strait," he said. saudi arabia and the uae have pipelines that bypass hormuz — the east-west pipeline and the habshan-fujairah pipeline — but combined capacity is roughly 3.5-5.5 million barrels per day, far less than the 20 million that transited daily before the war. saudi said its pipeline is pumping 7 mb/d. the war has shown even those alternatives are vulnerable. iran attacked saudi's east-west pipeline in april, cutting throughput by roughly 700,000 barrels per day. the port of fujairah also came under drone attack. iraq is reopening its pipeline to turkey with an initial capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. iran's own bypass option, the jask oil terminal, remains effectively non-operational — the iea said in february no oil has been exported from jask since a test load in late 2024.