Oman seeks LNG bypass routes around Hormuz

Oman has called for new liquefied natural gas export routes that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the months-long disruption to the Gulf’s main energy artery has exposed a critical weakness in global gas supply chains.

Energy and Minerals Minister Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi told the Gastech conference in Bangkok on Monday that producers and consumers needed to examine infrastructure capable of moving LNG to international markets without depending entirely on the strait. His comments came as renewed attacks on regional energy infrastructure and shipping revived concerns over the security of Gulf exports.

The appeal carries particular weight for gas markets because, unlike crude oil, LNG has almost no established physical bypass around Hormuz. The International Energy Agency says more than 112 billion cubic metres of LNG moved through the strait in 2025, close to one-fifth of global LNG trade. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates account for virtually all of those shipments, with about 90 per cent of the volume destined for Asia.

Al Aufi said the industry should consider options that improve redundancy and resilience rather than assume that normal shipping through the waterway will always be available. Oman itself has LNG export facilities outside the strait at Qalhat, near Sur, giving it a geographical advantage over producers whose liquefaction terminals lie inside the Gulf.

The minister’s intervention coincided with a sharp deterioration in regional energy security. Oman postponed a planned meeting between Iran and Gulf states that had been due on Monday to discuss arrangements for shipping through Hormuz. Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the postponement was “in the interests of consensus” and that Muscat remained committed to dialogue supporting regional stability and cooperation.

The diplomatic setback followed attacks on vessels in and around Hormuz and a drone strike that forced Saudi Arabia to shut its East-West crude pipeline, the region’s most important established oil route around the strait. The pipeline carries crude from eastern Saudi fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu and has become especially important since traffic through Hormuz fell sharply after the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran began in February.

The Saudi disruption also underscored a central problem facing policymakers considering alternative energy corridors: bypass infrastructure can itself become a target. Oil has more routing flexibility than LNG because Saudi Arabia and the UAE already operate pipelines that reach export terminals outside Hormuz. The IEA estimates those systems normally provide between 3.5 million and 5.5 million barrels a day of available rerouting capacity, far below the nearly 20 million barrels a day of oil that passed through Hormuz in 2025.

For natural gas, the constraints are tighter. The IEA says there is currently no alternative route capable of delivering Qatar’s or the UAE’s LNG volumes to the global market outside their existing liquefaction and shipping systems. Qatar supplies pipeline gas to the UAE and Oman through the Dolphin network, but spare capacity is limited, while Oman’s LNG plants have been operating close to full utilisation.

That leaves any large-scale LNG bypass dependent on major new investment in pipelines, liquefaction capacity, storage, ports or combinations of those assets. Such projects would require agreements across national borders, substantial capital and years of construction, making them a longer-term resilience measure rather than an immediate answer to disrupted shipping.

Oman has positioned Duqm and other ports on the Arabian Sea as potential logistics hubs outside Hormuz, while its existing LNG exports already avoid the strait. Asian governments have also intensified efforts to diversify energy procurement as the conflict disrupted traditional Gulf supply routes and pushed buyers towards cargoes from the United States and other producers.