The United Arab Emirates has nearly completed an oil export pipeline from Abu Dhabi, on the Gulf, to the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, Mohamed bin Dhaen al-Hamli, the U.A.E.’s oil minister, said this week.
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His remarks came as tension was rising between Iran and Western governments over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Over the past month, Iran has stepped up threats to block the strait in response to increasingly tough sanctions imposed by the United States and the possibility of an embargo on Iranian oil in the European Union.

Nearly 35 percent of globally traded oil shipments pass daily through the strait, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting and market intelligence firm.

Construction of the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline project, or Adcop, previously scheduled for completion in April, has been dogged by repeated delays over the past few years. But now “the pipeline is almost complete, and will hopefully be operational within six months, by May or June,” Mr. Hamli said Monday on the sidelines of an energy forum in Abu Dhabi. “The first tanker loaded will be in about six months’ time, ready for export.”

The $3.29 billion pipeline, with a capacity of about 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, will stretch 370 kilometers, or 230 miles, from Habshan in Abu Dhabi — the collection point for Abu Dhabi’s onshore crude oil production — to an offshore oil terminal in the emirate of Fujairah.

The project aims to “offset reliance on Arabian Gulf oil terminals while reducing shipping congestion through the Strait of Hormuz,” according to a statement on the Web site of International Petroleum Investment Co., which oversees it. “To this end, it aims to strengthen the overall export capability on the eastern coast of the U.A.E.”

On average, 14 crude tankers pass through the strait daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Data for 2010 showed 17 million barrels of oil transiting the strait daily, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the U.A.E., Qatar and Iran.

“There are political implications for Iran, in the sense that its neighbors are incredibly concerned and want to protect their ability to export oil regardless of a rise in tensions with Iran,” said Gala Riani, IHS Global Insight’s senior analyst covering the Middle East and North Africa, in an e-mail.

An IHS Global Insight research note by Ms. Riani and Catherine Hunter, issued Jan. 3, said that “Iran’s potential ability to close the choke point is a key trump card that could give it the upper hand” in its face-off with the United States and its allies.

Still, though Iran has shown it is able and willing to take drastic action to respond to foreign pressure, it is unlikely that it will close the strait, the research note said.

“Much of Iran’s own oil exports pass through the strait, so there would be limited logic in closing it as it would go against its own economic interests,” Ms. Riani wrote. “Nevertheless, it is not impossible that Iran would attempt to close it, although probably only as a last resort reaction to a foreign move that it would consider tantamount to an act of war — such as Western attempts to block Iranian oil exports.”

Iranian officials have repeated the threat of a blockade in recent weeks as sanctions against Iran by Western states have tightened. The European Union has talked of imposing an oil embargo in the coming months, and on Dec. 31 President Barack Obama signed into law sanctions against foreign institutions dealing with Iran’s central bank. That measure was part of a package to block access to the U.S. financial system for any institution that continues to deal with Iran, IHS Global Insight said. The sanctions will be implemented after a warning period of 120 days to allow firms to adjust and review their dealings with Tehran.

As an alternative to total closure of the strait, Iran could disrupt shipping in the Gulf by carrying out ship searches, adding time and cost to the transit, under the pretense of securing the waterways against potential piracy, said Siamak Namazi, an energy consultant in Dubai.