As the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively blocked by the US–Iran war and naval blockades, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have ramped up crude exports to India via Hormuz‑bypassing pipelines, helping Delhi insulate its oil imports from the worst of the Gulf disruption. New data show that flows from these two Gulf heavyweights have either normalised or run above year‑ago levels, partly offsetting the 15% month‑on‑month drop in India’s overall crude intake in April 2026, and ensuring that refineries do not face a serious supply crunch despite the choke‑point crisis.
How Saudi and UAE routes are bypassing Hormuz
Saudi Aramco has shifted a growing share of its exports to India away from Persian‑Gulf ports such as Ras Tanura and toward the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea, using the East‑West pipeline (capacity: about 5–7 million barrels per day) to pump crude across the peninsula. From Yanbu, tankers feed India‑bound cargoes without transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE, meanwhile, is rerouting volumes via the ADCOP/Habshan–Fujairah pipeline (capacity: about 1.5–1.7 million barrels per day) to the Fujairah terminal on the Gulf of Oman, again avoiding the Iranian‑controlled chokepoint.
These pipelines cannot fully replace the millions of barrels that used to stream through Hormuz before the war, but they have already boosted Saudi‑origin crude via Yanbu and UAE‑origin crude via Fujairah to multi‑month highs, giving Indian refiners an alternative stream that is both more secure and, in some cases, even cheaper than traditional Gulf routes hampered by higher insurance and security costs.
Broader supply‑mix changes for India
In addition to the Saudi‑UAE re‑routing, India’s energy mix has shifted to lean more heavily on Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Oman, all of which either supply oil from outside the Hormuz‑dependent Persian‑Gulf arc or through non‑Hormuz routes. Ship‑tracking firm Kpler notes that steady flows from Saudi Arabia and higher UAE shipments, combined with the revival of Iranian and Venezuelan cargoes and continued Russian purchases, have kept India’s crude imports around 4.4 million barrels per day in early April 2026, only about 15% below the pre‑war peak in February.
Why this matters for India’s energy security
The accelerated use of pipeline‑bypass routes signals a strategic recalibration: Gulf producers are investing in infrastructure designed to side‑step Hormuz during crises, while India is diversifying both its geographic sources and its entry corridors (Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, western shipping lanes). This reduces New Delhi’s dependence on a single chokepoint and gives it more leverage in geopolitical negotiations, even if the overall wartime disruption still pushes insurance premiums and crude prices upward. Analysts expect Gulf states and India to deepen these alternative‑route partnerships, including planned new pipelines and terminals, as part of a long‑term “Hormuz‑risk hedging” strategy.
