Strait of Hormuz will be ‘worthless piece of water’ as oil pipelines bypass it, Bessent says

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated that the Strait of Hormuz will soon lose its value as an oil conduit due to the development of new export pipelines. He made this comment at the G20 finance ministers meeting in North Carolina, noting that the strait would soon be bypassed. According to Bessent, in two years, the Strait of Hormuz will be a "worthless piece of water" as oil will be transported through pipelines across land.

Bessent also mentioned that up to 70 per cent of the energy that usually goes through the waterway would end up in pipelines. The Strait of Hormuz has been a crucial waterway for Persian Gulf energy, but shipping volumes have been affected by the conflict between the US and Iran. According to The National Business, shipping through the strait collapsed after the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, although volumes have ticked up in recent weeks.

The US is also expected to announce actions on banks with links to the Iranian regime in the next two weeks, as part of efforts to isolate Iran's economy. Meanwhile, there have been reports of incidents involving oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, including two supertankers being hit by unknown projectiles while transiting the strait.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that a tanker was struck by three projectiles while sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz, 17 nautical miles east of Khasab in Oman, with no casualties or environmental damage reported.

Brief written by urgent.news from Financial Post, The National Business, The National UAE, OilPrice, FXStreet — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.