UAE Opens Naval Base to Bypass Hormuz
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 21 Oct 2010 10:37
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4947987&c=MID&s=SEA

DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates has opened a naval base on its east coast
as part of efforts to secure its ability to export oil in the event Iran
closes the strategic Strait of Hormuz, local media reported Oct. 21.

Almost all oil exports from OPEC's fourth-largest producer now go through
Gulf waters and the narrow strait which separates the UAE from Iran before
reaching the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The opening ceremony for the new base, in the emirate of Fujairah on the
Arabian Sea, was held on Oct. 20.

The base will "provide a quick response to natural and man-made disasters
that may occur at sea, in addition to ... ensuring safe and quick passage
for its oil exports," the official WAM news agency said.

The emirate of Abu Dhabi, which holds more than 90 percent of UAE crude
reserves, is reportedly building a huge oil export facility and an oil
storage terminal in Fujairah, and an oil pipeline to it.

Having "a naval base in Fujairah would give the UAE more capabilities to
protect its economic zone and its strategic facility, the port down there,
which will be a major point of export for oil and gas," said Riad Kahwaji,
founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai.

Kahwaji said that two pipelines from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah - one for oil and
another for gas - have been announced.

"There's an oil pipeline from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah port, and there's the
Dolphin project, which is a gas pipeline between Qatar, Abu Dhabi, then
Fujairah and then on to Oman," he said.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to block navigation through the Strait of
Hormuz, through which about 60 percent of the world's oil supplies pass, if
it is ever attacked by the United States or Israel.

Many Western states believe Iran's nuclear program may be a covert bid to
make a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies. The United States and Israel
have not ruled out the possibility of a strike against Iranian nuclear
facilities.

"We've heard over the news for the past few years the threats directly and
indirectly from Iran of closing the Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked,"
Kahwaji said.

"Countries like Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain and Iraq ... are really
blocked in if the Strait of Hormuz is closed," he said.

"It is natural to see these countries come up with contingency plans that
coincide with heightened threat perceptions" so "they would continue to be
able to export their products and even import as well," even if the strait
was closed.

The UAE, a federation of seven emirates with Abu Dhabi as its capital, has
good relations with Western countries, but also maintains close trade ties
with Iran.
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