Fun with Iran: Pipeline Planned for Iranian Port Outside Strait of Hormuz

Iran launches key pipeline project to bypass Strait of Hormuz for oil exports :

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani launched an oil pipeline project which will enable the country to export its oil using a route other than the Strait of Hormuz, Tasnim news agency reported.

“What is strategic about this project is that many countries in the region have managed to find a second way so that they can export their oil using other routes whenever the Strait of Hormuz faces danger,” Rouhani said addressing a ceremony to inaugurate the project.

The 1,000-km pipeline will bring oil from Goreh in Bushehr port city in the Gulf to another port city of Jask in the Sea of Oman.

The Kharg Island terminal in the Gulf is currently Iran’s main terminal, accounting for 90 percent of its oil exports. To reach Kharg, tankers must pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

With the launch of the pipeline from Goreh to Jask, the country’s oil exports will no longer be linked to the Hormuz Strait, which will make Jask strategically important as the country’s second-largest crude oil export terminal.

Seems like an interesting plan.

Don't know who Iran thinks might close the Strait of Hormuz, but it's nice of them to be planning to provide additional targets for the same folks who might want to stop Iranian shipments from Kharg Island. A 600 mile long pipeline and a nice new terminal? Tempting.

Jask location

Kharg Island in red circle, Jask with red pin

Kharg Island facilities

As you might guess, this is a partial response to the earlier reported Omani effort to build a large storage and loading facility on the Arabian Sea. And it's a recognition that it's a long transit from Kharg Island to open water.