UAE prepared for any closure of the Straight of Hormuz

The UAE is prepared for any closure of the Straight of Hormuz, the country's Oil Minister has confirmed.

Oil Minister Mohammed al Hamli has said that the United Arab Emirates’ key Fujairah pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz will be fully operational by the end of the year and will carry most of Abu Dhabi’s oil exports.

Alarmed by Iranian threats to block the world’s biggest oil shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE opened its long delayed pipeline to pump up to 1.8 million barrels a day and shipped its first export cargo in July.

“Hopefully by the end of the year it should be fully operational. The 370-km Abu Dhabi crude oil pipeline carries oil from fields in the UAE’s western desert to Fujairah, a major oil storage and fuel bunkering hub on the east coast,” the minister said.

“The new terminal has eight crude oil storage tanks each with capacity of one million barrels. But since the first three initial cargoes, some of them going back to the UAE, the Fujairah terminal has not yet become fully operational for handling the bulk of the UAE’s exports.”