UAE minister calls for Strait of Hormuz to be opened fully and unconditionally
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The Strait of Hormuz remains closed with Iran still restricting access and preventing energy flows to global markets.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Strait of Hormuz remains closed with Iran still restricting access and preventing energy flows to global markets, the head of the biggest oil producer in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said. Tehran says transits must be under its supervision.
“Conditional passage is not passage. It is control by another name,” Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), said in comments on LinkedIn. “The strait must be open – fully, unconditionally and without restriction.”
His comments demonstrate how complicated it is to move oil, gas and other vital commodities through the world’s most important waterway, which has been all but shut since the Iran war started at the end of February.
The strait needs to be reopened to allow unrestricted navigation for hundreds of loaded oil tankers to move out of the Persian Gulf and producers in the region to raise output, said Dr Jaber, who is also the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology. He had in March called Iran’s blockage of the waterway economic terrorism.
Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization has announced two designated safe routes for vessels entering and exiting Hormuz, state-run Nour News said earlier on April 9.
The routes were established to avoid the potential presence of sea mines in the area, it added.
An estimated 230 vessels in total are filled with oil and ready to sail, Dr Jaber said.
ADNOC itself has loaded cargoes, and will expand production within the constraints of the damage it has suffered to its infrastructure during the war, Dr Jaber said, adding that the company has a responsibility to its customers once the safety of its employees and crews is assured.
The UAE and other Gulf producers have been forced to shut in production of oil, gas and refined products because of the Hormuz blockage.
Oil prices have surged above US$100 a barrel and are still hovering near that level after a tentative ceasefire that was meant to include an opening of the strait. BLOOMBERG
