Kuwait: Emergency Plan to Export Oil in case Iran closed Strait of Hormuz

  • Kuwait, State of Kuwait
  • 10 July 2018
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The Kuwaiti cabinet discussed an emergency plan to export oil amidst political and security tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, the only outlet for Kuwaiti oil exports, following Iranian threats to close the strait and disrupt navigation in response to Washington's announcement to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero, giving the States and companies until the fourth of November to stop its oil dealings with Iran, following the withdrawal of the United States from the nuclear agreement in last May.
The Kuwaiti government has circulated a series of precautionary measures in the event of escalation of tension in the Strait of Hormuz, represented by the "Plan of flags or banners" by raising the American flag on Kuwaiti tankers, which was carried out during the Iraq-Iran war when Kuwait advanced in early 1987, to the five permanent members of the Security Council, to protect their oil tankers.
The second plan is the use of the giant oil tankers as temporary stocks for any emergency upon closure of the strait and this is a short-term plan. The third plan is to use the external strategic stockpile in cooperation with the countries that export to Kuwait such as China. There is also a future plan to be processed, namely the establishment of an alternative oil pipeline to export from the port of the emirate of Fujairah in the Emirates to the Sea of Oman.

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