Early on in the Iran war, a long-forgotten pipeline built across Saudi Arabia 40 years ago became a lifesaver for the global economy. The East-West conduit allowed the kingdom to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, keeping some of its oil flowing. Now that the Houthis of Yemen are trying to close an essential chokepoint for that workaround, the Saudis may need a bypass for the bypass.
Engineering a new detour that avoids the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the southern end of the Red Sea would be a tall task. It would require the use of one, perhaps two, extra pipelines, quite a lot of oil tankers and a good dosage of Middle Eastern cloak-and-dagger diplomacy to keep everything running despite the threat of missiles and drones. It won’t be easy — or cheap.
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But it is possible. The good news is that the Saudis, who now export most of their oil from the Red Sea via the East-West bypass pipeline rather than through the Persian Gulf, have a natural way to avoid the strait. Rather than sending the oil south toward the chokepoint, the kingdom can push the barrels north. The bad news is that's not a simple as it sounds. Worse, arranging the new bypass is urgent: The Houthis made good on their threat to close the strait earlier this week, attacking two Saudi-flagged oil tankers in the southern Red Sea.
