Iran opens new oil export terminal bypassing strait

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced Thursday the opening of a new oil export terminal on the Gulf of Oman that will allow shipments to avoid the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking on live television, Rouhani said Iran had inaugurated a 1,000 kilometer (600 mile) pipeline and started “the operation of the export terminal” at Jask in the Makran region.

About $2 billion in investment was plowed into the project with the aim of creating a daily export capacity of one million barrels of crude oil through the new Jask terminal. In the project’s first phase it will carry 300,000 barrels of oil per day, Iran’s oil ministry’s news agency Shana reported.

This capacity will increase to one million barrels in the near future, it said.

Last year, about 18 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz every day. By comparison, 3 million barrels per day passed through the Suez Canal. The United States Department of Energy calls the Strait of Hormuz “the world’s most important oil transit choke point.” It’s also one of the most vulnerable. At its narrowest point, it’s only 21 miles wide. On one side of that 21-mile stretch sits the Sultanate of Oman, one of the most moderate Arab states. On the other side is Iran.

Other major oil-producing countries—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq—export their oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Five of the 10 largest oil-exporting nations sit on the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy also depends on it to access its various Persian Gulf naval bases. It is one of the most critical choke points in the world.

This is what makes the Goreh-Jask pipeline so concerning.

Other Gulf exporting countries, like Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., have pipelines leading to ports outside the Strait of Hormuz. If the strait were to close, as Rouhani mentioned, Iran would have suffered the most. But that’s no longer the case…

The Goreh-Jask pipeline could be the final piece in making Iran king of world trade. Not because Iran has a powerhouse economy of its own, but because it controls all the trade routes. And whoever wants to use them would be at Tehran’s mercy.

The Bible prophesies that Iran will get such control over world trade.#

“New Pipeline Could Make Iran King of World Trade,” May 24, 2021, theTrumpet.com