The UAE’s $3bn-plus strategic oil pipeline that runs from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah will not be operational for another five to six months, almost a year and a half after officials announced that construction work was complete. The scheme is designed to allow Abu Dhabi oil to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane between Oman’s Musandam peninsula and Iran, linking the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Contrast the delays with another project for Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy, which opened a 244-kilometre natural gas pipeline from Taweelah on the Gulf coast to Fujairah at the end of 2010. Construction began in mid-2008. Since 2007, Dolphin Energy’s main initiative, the Dolphin Project has produced natural gas from Qatar’s North field gas reservoir, which is then processed and transported via a sub-sea pipeline to receiving facilities at Taweelah and on to Fujairah and Oman, bypassing the strait.

Crippling sanctions on Iranian oil exports may push the regime to take desperate measures

The gas pipeline was originally conceived back in 1989 by the GCC as a pan-regional pipeline, welding the natural gas grids of its six members into a single integrated bloc. The giant North field was to be the centrepiece of this vision, but regional rivalry, territorial disputes and political squabbles have obstructed any moves to expand it, spelling the end of the GCC gas network concept.

The GCC, along with Iraq may be beginning to regret its inertia on oil pipelines. At the end of December, Iran threatened to close to the strait in response to increased US sanctions, targeting the sale of Iranian crude.

Crippling sanctions on Iranian oil exports may push the regime to take desperate measures. The majority of the Gulf’s oil would be locked in, forcing the closure of production facilities. Only Saudi Arabia has a working pipeline, which can transport half its crude from the Gulf to the Red Sea.