Dubai: The UAE’s strategic oil pipeline that will bypass the Strait of Hormuz will boost employment and promote stability in the country, Emirati youth have said.

The oil export pipeline from Habshan in Abu Dhabi to Fujairah is expected to start exports within a month and will initially operate at a rate of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd). It is expected to increase to 1.8 million bpd.

The UAE is now producing about 2.6 million bpd and has a production capacity of around 2.7 million bpd. “The pipeline will boost the economy in terms of employment. Unemployment is a big issue because not a lot of Emiratis are involved in the multi-million contract deals that are made to develop this country,” said Maitha Ahmad, a 26-year-old business executive.

“The majority of people living in Fujairah and the northern emirates have resorted to commuting to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for their jobs, so with this project, it will not only boost employment in the region but also provide more job opportunities for Emirati engineers,” she said.

Other Emiratis also agreed with the observation that the pipeline project is an opportunity to cut the rate of unemployment, particularly with jobs related to the gas and oil industry.

“The UAE pipeline is also an advantage because it will reduce the much volatile relations between the UAE and Iran, as the pipeline will provide easy access to the Indian ocean through Fujairah, limiting and completely diverting from the over dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranian government was threatening to block in case of a US confrontation over its nuclear ambitions,” said Sultan Al Mazroui, an economist.

“The pipeline comes just at the right moment to ease the already existing tensions between the UAE and Iran over the three UAE islands of Abu Mousa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs. The pipeline will ease the movement of crude oil from the UAE to the rest of the world,” he said.

Al Mazroui said that the pipeline will also control the cost of oil carriers as the high fees charged by the companies due to security reasons will not have to be paid.

According to media reports, the project is expected to boost bilateral relations between the UAE and China, since China was commissioned to construct the $3.3 billion (Dh12.11 billion) 370-km pipeline. The commissioning of the pipeline was scheduled to take place late last year but due to delays in material and construction related issues, the deadline was pushed back. A senior government official recently said the new pipeline will ensure safe flow of the UAE’s crude oil exports in the event that Iran carries out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Reuters quoted UAE Oil Minister Mohammad Al Hamli as saying: “It’s important to diversify and ease the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Once the UAE Hormuz bypass pipeline is opened, it will provide the country with an alternative route out of the narrow Strait which Iran has threatened to block due to increasing Western pressure over its controversial nuclear programme. Iran has denied the allegations and claims that its nuclear programme is meant for peaceful purposes.

“The pipeline will certainly open the doors to trading with China as it is one of the emerging countries, along with Brazil and India. But one of the challenges that we should not ignore is that oil is slowly depleting and I would like to know for how long will the pipeline be efficient, since Dubai and Abu Dhabi are diversifying their development into the tourism and real estate sector,” said Hamed Al Mansouri, a corporate communications executive.

“We have been importing natural gas into the country, so I think it would be a good idea if the pipeline could expand in the future and import oil and gas,” he said.