<P> In June 2012, Saudi Arabia reopened the Iraq Pipeline through Saudi Arabia (IPSA), which was confiscated from Iraq in 2001 and travels from Iraq across Saudi Arabia to a Red Sea port . It will have a capacity of 1.65 million barrels per day . </P> <P> In July 2012, the UAE began using the new Habshan--Fujairah oil pipeline from the Habshan fields in Abu Dhabi to the Fujairah oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman, effectively bypassing the Strait of Hormuz . It was constructed by a Chinese company and has a maximum capacity of around 2 million barrels per day, over three - fourths of the UAE's 2012 production rate . The UAE is also increasing Fujairah's storage and off - loading capacities . </P> <P> In a July 2012 Foreign Policy article, Gal Luft compared Iran and the Strait of Hormuz to the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles, a choke point for shipments of Russian grain a century ago . He indicated that tensions involving the Strait of Hormuz are leading those currently dependent on shipments from the Persian Gulf to find alternative shipping capabilities . He stated that Saudi Arabia was considering building new pipelines to Oman and Yemen, and that Iraq might revive the disused Iraq--Syria pipeline to ship crude to the Mediterranean . Luft stated that reducing Hormuz traffic "presents the West with a new opportunity to augment its current Iran containment strategy ." </P>

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