Here is a number that should keep every petroleum planner in South Block awake at night: roughly one-fifth of the world's daily oil consumption — some 20 million barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — squeezes through a channel barely 33 kilometres wide at its narrowest navigable lane, as per the EIA's geographic profile of the strait. The Strait of Hormuz has always been global energy's single point of failure. What has changed in 2026 is that the nations on the supply side of that bottleneck have stopped merely worrying about it and started engineering around it.

According to ThePrint, the ongoing Hormuz crisis has pushed gulf oil producers — saudi arabia, the UAE, and oman chief among them — to pursue pipeline and port infrastructure that would allow them to export crude without a single barrel traversing the strait. The UAE's Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, already operational for years, is being expanded; saudi arabia is eyeing increased capacity through its Yanbu terminal on the red Sea coast; and oman, whose geography gives it a coastline outside the strait, is positioning itself as the Gulf's new logistics hub.

The strategic logic for producers is impeccable. Iran's capacity to threaten, toll, or outright shut Hormuz — demonstrated repeatedly through drone strikes on tankers and outright closure threats, as ThePrint's reporting documents — turns an exporter's revenue stream into a hostage situation. Every time tensions spike, insurance premiums on Hormuz-transiting tankers surge, and the effective price a gulf producer receives drops by the cost of that risk. Building around the chokepoint internalises that risk premium into infrastructure capex that they control, rather than leaving it as a geopolitical tax they pay to Iran's veto.

The Bypass Economics: Who Gains, Who Pays

The critical question is not whether bypass routes are technically feasible — they are — but how the economics of rerouting redistribute costs across the oil value chain. A pipeline from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah adds roughly $1–2 per barrel in transport costs compared to a tanker loading at Jebel ali and sailing through Hormuz, according to industry estimates cited by energy consultancy Rystad Energy. For the producer, that is a small price for supply security. But for the buyer — and india is the Gulf's single largest customer — the arithmetic is more complicated.

india imports approximately 4.5 to 5 million barrels of crude per day, according to IEA data, with gulf sources accounting for roughly 60% of that total, as per India's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. When crude moves from Hormuz-adjacent ports to alternative terminals on Oman's coast or Saudi Arabia's western flank, the shipping distances to indian west-coast refineries change, and not always favourably. Fujairah is closer; Yanbu is much farther. Every additional sailing day adds freight costs. More importantly, if bypass infrastructure becomes the norm rather than the exception, long-term supply contracts will need to be renegotiated — and the infrastructure capex built by producers will, inevitably, be passed through in the form of higher delivered prices or revised FOB terms.

India's Missing Playbook

What is striking — and, in this correspondent's assessment, genuinely alarming — is the absence of any visible indian strategic response. New delhi has spent decades building oil diplomacy around two assumptions: first, that Hormuz would remain open because its closure would hurt iran as much as anyone; and second, that India's sheer import volume gives it buyer leverage. Both assumptions are now under strain.

The first collapsed the moment iran demonstrated it would accept economic self-harm to extract strategic concessions — the 2025–2026 Hormuz disruptions, as reported by ThePrint, proved that. The second is eroding because gulf producers, by building bypass routes, are acquiring optionality they did not previously have. A saudi arabia that can ship via Yanbu does not need indian demand through Hormuz; it can service European and African markets via the red Sea instead. India's leverage as a buyer diminishes precisely when the seller's logistics become more flexible.

As of june 2025, no public statement from India's Ministry of Petroleum outlining a contingency framework for a post-Hormuz gulf supply chain could be located by india Herald. The Ministry did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. The country's strategic petroleum reserves — currently around 39 million barrels at full capacity, according to the indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited — offer roughly nine days of import cover, far below the IEA's 90-day recommendation for its member nations. Diversification toward Russian, American, and West African crude has accelerated post-2022, but gulf crude remains irreplaceable for India's refinery configurations, which are optimised for the sulphur content and gravity of Arab grades.

The OPEC Fracture Underneath

The bypass push also reveals a fracture within OPEC itself. The UAE's decision to chart an independent export path — underscored by what Reuters in 2024 reported as Abu Dhabi's departure from certain OPEC coordination mechanisms on production baselines — signals that gulf producers no longer view collective supply management as sufficient insurance against logistical risk. When each member builds its own bypass, the cartel's ability to coordinate supply through common chokepoints weakens. This has pricing implications: bypass infrastructure fragments the supply chain, and fragmented supply chains produce wider regional price differentials. india, which benchmarks its imports against Middle Eastern markers, could data-face more volatile and less transparent pricing.

The deeper irony is geopolitical. india has cultivated warm ties with both iran and the gulf Arab states, walking a careful tightrope. But in a world where Hormuz is bypassed by producers and weaponised by iran, that tightrope frays. india cannot simultaneously guarantee its supply security and avoid choosing sides in the Gulf's infrastructure politics. The bypass routes are not just pipes and ports — they are declarations of strategic data-alignment, and every buyer must eventually declare where its barrels will come from.

The Question New delhi Must Answer

gulf producers are spending billions to ensure that no crisis in a 33-kilometre strait can ever again hold their revenues hostage. That is rational. What is less rational — in this correspondent's assessment — is india, the world's third-largest oil importer and the Gulf's most important customer, treating this tectonic shift as someone else's infrastructure project. Neither the Ministry of Petroleum nor the Ministry of External Affairs has publicly articulated how india intends to adapt its import architecture to a gulf where bypass is the default. india Herald's requests for comment to both ministries went unanswered by publication time.

The question is not whether Hormuz will be bypassed. It is whether india will have shaped the terms of that bypass, or merely absorbed its costs.

Key Takeaways

• Gulf producers including saudi arabia, UAE, and oman are accelerating pipeline and port projects to export crude without transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to ThePrint.
• India imports approximately 60% of its crude oil from gulf sources, most of which has historically moved through Hormuz, making it acutely exposed to rerouting costs, per India's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
• India's strategic petroleum reserves of roughly 39 million barrels provide only about nine days of import cover — far below the IEA's 90-day recommendation.
• The UAE's independent bypass strategy signals a fracture within OPEC's collective logistics framework, as Reuters reported in 2024, with potential implications for crude pricing benchmarks used by indian refiners.
• As of june 2025, no public contingency plan from India's petroleum or external affairs ministries for a post-Hormuz gulf supply architecture could be located; neither ministry responded to india Herald's request for comment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who controls the Strait of Hormuz?

The Strait of Hormuz lies between iran to the north and oman (specifically the Musandam Peninsula) to the south. iran and oman share territorial waters, but no single country fully controls it. international maritime law governs transit passage, though iran has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to disrupt shipping through military action.

Why is saudi arabia bypassing the Strait of Hormuz?

saudi arabia is expanding alternative export capacity — particularly through its Yanbu terminal on the red Sea — to reduce dependence on Hormuz, which iran has threatened to close during multiple crises, as ThePrint has reported. Bypass routes protect Saudi revenue streams from geopolitical disruption in the strait.

How does the Hormuz crisis affect India's oil imports?

india imports roughly 60% of its crude from gulf nations, according to India's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, most of it historically shipped through Hormuz. If gulf producers reroute exports via alternative pipelines and ports, india data-faces changed shipping distances, potential price renegotiations, and reduced buyer leverage.

How many countries are currently in OPEC?

As of 2025, OPEC has 12 member countries: saudi arabia, Iraq, iran, Kuwait, Venezuela, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and the UAE. The UAE's relationship with OPEC has evolved amid its independent export strategy, with Reuters reporting in 2024 on Abu Dhabi's departure from certain OPEC coordination mechanisms regarding production baselines.

What is India's strategic petroleum reserve capacity?

India's strategic petroleum reserves stand at approximately 39 million barrels at full capacity, according to indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited, providing roughly nine days of import cover — significantly below the international Energy Agency's 90-day recommendation for member nations.