Wednesday, Jul 04, 2012

(This story was originally published Tuesday)

ABU DHABI (Zawya Dow Jones)--A planned Gulf oil pipeline that will bypass the Strait of Hormuz is complete and will be commissioned this month, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co., or Adma-Opco, said on Tuesday.

News that the route is getting close to operating will provide some relief to oil markets rattled by Iranian threats to block the Strait--through which one-fifth of the world's oil is currently shipped.

"I cannot tell exactly when exports will start flowing from the pipeline...but in August it should be open and operating fully," Ali Rashid Al Jarwan of Adma-Opco, which is controlled by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or Adnoc, told a press conference.

The $3.29 billion, 400-kilometer pipeline will enable Abu Dhabi, the largest U.A.E. sheikdom, to export as much as 70% of its crude from Fujairah, located outside the Persian Gulf on the Gulf of Oman, where tankers will be able to pick up the oil instead of sailing into the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway watched over by Iran.

It is known as Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, or Adcop, and is being built for the Abu Dhabi government investment firm International Petroleum Investment Co., or IPIC.

Iran has in recent months ratcheted up threats to close the Strait of Mormuz if the European Union goes through with an embargo on Iranian oil, the latest step taken to pressure Tehran into giving up a nuclear program that the West suspects is aimed at securing atomic weapons.

The Strait is one of the world's busiest tanker routes through which Persian Gulf oil producers ship their crude exports.

-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714-446-1691; summer.said@dowjones.com; Twitter: @ZDJnews

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-07-12 0341GMT