TotalEnergies has declared that investing in Middle Eastern pipelines to bypass the Strait of Hormuz is now an “absolute priority” to protect energy exports from escalating regional threats.Speaking at an energy conference in Paris, CEO Patrick Pouyanne emphasized that the ongoing Iran crisis has paralyzed the crucial waterway—through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes—making the chokepoint a “genuine threat” that requires permanent structural infrastructure to solve. As the Western oil major most heavily exposed to the Middle East, TotalEnergies currently has about 15% of its regional oil and gas production suspended due to stability issues.Proposed Alternative Bypass RoutesTo eliminate reliance on maritime shipping through the strait, Pouyanne highlighted several viable overland corridors.Iraq Westward Expansion,
Moving Iraqi crude oil west through Syria or Turkey to access the Mediterranean Sea.Iraq Southward Redirection, Routing Iraqi exports down through Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Abu Dhabi Infrastructure, Expanding existing pipeline networks through the United Arab Emirates to bypass the chokepoint entirely.Pouyanne drew on historical precedent, noting that TotalEnergies originally discovered oil in Iraq in 1928 and successfully built an Iraq-Syria pipeline in just six years. He stated, “If our predecessors did it 100 years ago, I believe we should be capable of doing it again today.”This push aligns with broader regional efforts, including ADNOC recently announcing that its second bypass pipeline through Fujairah is already 50% complete.
Note by Alessandro Bazzoni