Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration,
Note: Includes crude oil and petroleum liquids. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2017 World Oil Transit Chokepoints Includes petroleum oil and petroleum liquids .
about 59 million barrels per day ( b/d ) of ball-shaped petroleum and other liquids production moved on maritime routes in 2015, or about 61 % of the earth total. many of these products transited the Suez Canal and SUMED Pipeline, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Strait of Hormuz chokepoints around the arab Peninsula .
Chokepoints are constrict channels along wide used ball-shaped sea routes, and they are critical to global energy security. The inability of oil to transit a major constriction, evening temporarily, can lead to substantial supply delays and higher ship costs, resulting in higher world energy prices. Although most chokepoints can be circumvented through the use of other routes that add importantly to transit time, there are no virtual alternatives in some cases .
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
The Strait of Hormuz is the world ’ s most crucial constriction, with an petroleum stream of 18.5 million b/d in 2016. The Strait of Hormuz connects the iranian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and in 2015 its day by day stream of petroleum accounted for 30 % of all seaborne-traded unrefined petroleum and early liquids. More than 30 % of global liquefy natural natural gas deal besides transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2016. At its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide, but the width of the ship lane in either direction is only two miles wide, separated by a two-mile buffer zone .
There are limited options to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pipelines that can ship blunt oil outside of the Persian Gulf and have extra pipeline capacitance to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz. At the end of 2016, the total available unrefined petroleum pipeline capacity from the two countries combined was estimated at 6.6 million b/d, while the two countries combined had approximately 3.9 million b/d of unused shunt capacity.
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The Suez Canal and the SUMED Pipeline are strategic routes for irani Gulf oil and natural flatulence shipments to Europe and North America. Located in Egypt, the Suez Canal connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea. In 2016, 3.9 million b/d of crude oil and refined products transited the Suez Canal in both directions, according to data published by the Suez Canal Authority. Northbound flows rose by about 300,000 b/d in 2016, largely because of increased crude oil exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia to Europe. southbound shipments decreased for the first time since at least 2009, largely because of lower exports of petroleum products from Russia to Asia .
The 200-mile farseeing SUMED Pipeline transports blunt petroleum through Egypt from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Crude anoint flows through two twin 42-inch pipelines that have a sum capacity of 2.34 million b/d. The SUMED Pipeline is the alone interchange route to transport crude anoint from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea if ships can not navigate through the Suez Canal .
closure of the Suez Canal and the SUMED Pipeline would require oil tankers to divert around the Cape of Good Hope near the southerly tip of Africa, which would add approximately 2,700 miles to the theodolite from Saudi Arabia to the United States. In 2016, 1.6 million b/d of crude petroleum was transported through the SUMED Pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea and then loaded onto tankers for seaborne deal.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a constriction between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East and is a strategic yoke between the Mediterranean Sea and the indian Ocean. Located between Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea, it connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Most exports from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal and the SUMED Pipeline besides pass through Bab el-Mandeb .
An estimated 4.8 million b/d of blunt oil and refined petroleum products flowed through this waterway in 2016 toward Europe, the United States, and Asia, an addition from 3.3 million b/d in 2011. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 18 miles wide at its narrowest sharpen, limiting oil tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments. blockage of the Bab el-Mandeb could keep tankers originating in the irani Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal or the SUMED Pipeline .
Principal contributors: Lejla Villar, Mason Hamilton