Overview Where does the oil go? Pipeline Planning

Strategic Oil Export Networks Bypassing the Strait of Hormuz
Change in Elevation
Overview The Strait of Hormuz is the most network. Nearly 35 percent of sea‐
borne oil passes through the Strait and a disruption would have a devastating Saudi Arabia occupies a unique only the world’s largest oil producer and holder of reserves, but it is the only country that can throttle production up or down depending on demand. If Saudi Arabia’s oil export capabilities were curtailed, the price of oil would quickly skyrocket—leading to crippling increases in energy prices across the world. Saudi Arabia itself would also located in the eastern part of the country Pipeline Planning labor, it may be preferable if the shorter high slope areas. These areas would be route goes through rough terrain and government depends primarily on along the Persian Gulf. The vast petroleum revenue to run its country. majority of its crude oil is processed in a facility in Abqaiq before being piped to and costly. The planning and design more difficult to build on and would options for oil exports in the event of a the ports of Ras Tanura and Ras al‐
phase seeks to minimize costs and require additional operating costs closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It uses Ju’aymah on the Persian Gulf. prevent potential disruptions during through the life of the pipeline (i.e. Geographic Information System (GIS) construction. Factors that influence the pumping stations). software to determine the least‐cost crude oil is loaded onto large tankers eventual route include terrain, slope, path for two hypothetical petroleum which then move through a two mile elevation, land cover, access and right pipeline paths that Saudi Arabia could pipelines in Saudi Arabia. shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. of way, weather, and overall length. construct in order to ensure their oil Where does the oil go? The tankers then sail through the Gulf export capabilities and reduce of Oman until reaching the Arabian Sea, path between the origin and destination dependence on export via the Strait of when their paths diverge depending on points that successfully avoids any off‐
Hormuz. Both originate in Abqaiq, million barrels of oil per day, yet it only their final destination. While other limits areas (for example, a populated where the vast majority of oil is consumes about a quarter of that countries export a sizeable amount of oil area or a historic ruin) and that avoids processed to make it suitable and stable amount. The rest of it is exported to the via pipelines, Saudi Arabia is highly challenging terrain. While adding to the for export via tanker. One destination is world markets, mostly to the Far East. dependent on maritime exports —
length of a pipeline may be costly in the port of Mina al‐Fahal, in the north of Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas resources are primarily through the Strait of Hormuz. terms of extra materials and added Saudi Arabia produces roughly 10 before crossing through Northern government, its close proximity to Saudi Yemen. Both pipeline paths varied Arabia, and its port access to the significantly as I weighted the variables Arabian Sea without the need to pass differently—for example, I downgraded through the Strait of Hormuz. the “cost” of crossing existing roads and railroads to achieve a more accurate and The second destination is Yanbu, an existing port facility on Saudi Arabia’s less lengthy least‐cost path. Western border along the Red Sea. This Limitations West pipeline, enabling export to the world without crossing any national of high quality, precise data for the boundaries. terrain and location of environmental place in the industry because it is not This project explores Saudi Arabia’s was chosen for its relatively stable After making it to the ports, the Pipeline construction is complex The ideal line would be the shortest The biggest issue is the availability and human barriers. Another significant Outcomes impact on world energy markets. be in a precarious situation as the through the southern part of the UAE pipeline would mirror the existing East‐
important node in the global oil transit Oman near the capital of Muscat. Oman limitation is the nature of weighting the variables—each project would weight The final map shows the hypothetical least‐cost path for the two them differently and there is no pipelines, based on the weighted industry standard weighting to base the criteria. GIS software tabulates the analysis off of. Finally, a real world “cost” for each point on the map and project would take into account a higher then traces backwards from the number of variables and would apply destination to find the least‐cost path. other rules to help the construction The Abqaiq to Yanbu pipeline is phase, such as minimizing angles and relatively direct, somewhat closely sharp turns, maximizing straight following the existing pipeline. The lengths, and designing all road and Abqaiq to Mina al‐Fahal pipeline skirts utility crossings at 90 degree angles. Final Pipeline Routing
In my analysis, I chose two potential “Cost” in Potential Path
Saudi Exports Cartographer: Stefan Wirth Date: May 8, 2012 Class: GIS for International Applications Instructors: Barbara Parmenter and Patrick Florance Data Sources: Digital Chart of the World (DCW) 1992, Database of Global Administrative Areas (GADM) version2—2010, Global Land Cover 2000, Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook—2012, Energy Information Administration—Saudi Arabia Analysis and World Oil Transit Chokepoints—2012 Projections: WGS 1984 UTM Zone 38N