A new crude oil pipeline that bypasses ​the Strait of ⁠Hormuz and which the United Arab Emirates began building last year ‌is now 50% complete, the CEO of state oil giant ADNOC, Sultan Al Jaber, said ​on Wednesday.

Iran has largely kept the waterway critical for global oil and gas supplies shut ​to all ​ships apart from its own since the U.S.-Israeli strikes in February, sending energy prices and inflation surging, fanning fears of an economic downturn. The ⁠Abu Dhabi Media Office publicly revealed the project's existence for the first time last week, saying the UAE will accelerate construction of a new oil pipeline to double its export capacity via the port of Fujairah by 2027.

Abu Dhabi ​Crown Prince ‌Sheikh Khaled bin ⁠Mohamed bin Zayed directed ⁠ADNOC to fast-track the West-East Pipeline project during an executive committee meeting, the media ​office said.

"Today, it's already almost 50% complete, and ‌we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027," Al Jaber ⁠said during a live-streamed Atlantic Council event.

"Right now, too much of the world's energy still moves through too few choke points. That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz," Al Jaber said.

The existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, can carry up to 1.8 million barrels per day and has proved crucial as ‌the UAE seeks to maximise exports from the Gulf of ⁠Oman coast, just outside the strait.

Al Jaber said some ​of ADNOC's facilities had been directly targeted and some infrastructure directly hit and the assessment of damage was ongoing. It will take in some cases weeks and ​in others months to ‌return to full operational capacity, he said.

(Reporting by ⁠Yousef Saba in Dubai and ​Ahmad Ghaddar in London; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Tomasz Janowski)