Posted on 12/09/2019 10:00:26 AM PST by bananaman22
Israel pitched to India this weekend its idea of a new transportation corridor in the Middle East bypassing the most critical oil chokepoint in the world which is very close to Iran, the Strait of Hormuz.
During the Mediterranean Dialogues conference in Rome on Saturday, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Intelligence, Israel Katz, met with India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to discuss bilateral trade and presented Israel’s “Tracks for Regional Peace” initiative.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
“The Mediterranean Dialogues”
A great idea. (But One caveat - Jordan is an artificial entity and very unstable ( and would collapse completely without its IDF defense cover). Still that’s there are so I’d vote yes on this initiative.
Interesting post.
Indeed, the Hashimite king has almost no control over his “kingdom”.
I’ve thought for a long time that the Saudis need a pipeline out via Oman as a way of avoiding both Hormuz and the Red Sea choke points.
A good alternative would be a pipeline out via Jordan and Israel to the Mediterranean. The first time I heard of the “Neom” project planned for Northwest Saudi, they were talking about a pipeline out via Israel, but since then that seems to have been scrubbed (or maybe it was my imagination...), but an alternative would be across the Sinai to the Med. Israel doesn’t like that idea because it impacts their own access to the Red Sea.
Anyway, the new Crown Prince and Israel seem willing to work together in a way they have not previously.
“When it comes to money, everybody is of the same religion”
-Voltaire
A graphic showing a couple of the big uns the KSA already built, a good while ago.
Since that time the Iranians have put offensive missiles in Eritrea to threaten the world’s shipping, and destroyed Yemen to install even more.
http://southfront.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Saudi-Arabia.jpg
“Anyway, the new Crown Prince and Israel seem willing to work together in a way they have not previously.”
I get the impression from the many articles I have read on the subject that Israel and Saudi Arabia are in continuous dialog on a number of subjects. The Crown Prince had originally suggested that Israel would be part of the city they planned with the IPO money from the sale of their national oil company. (If I recall they would be supplying desalinization equipment.) Because of decades of anti Israeli propaganda they can’t really talk much about how they cooperate. But when it comes down to “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” Iran is both of their enemies and I think they cooperate a lot. There were photos of Israeli planes at a Saudi air base, but I can’t find those anymore.
The oil IPO was rescheduled because of the Iranian attack on the facilities, which would have had a huge impact on the price. I believe it would be coming up shortly, then the terror cell in Pensacola was activated (my thoughts) which will doubtless delay the IPO further. The longer it takes for Saudi Arabia to get that money the better the situation is for Iran.
Interestingly, long ago (1947) an oil pipeline was built from the Persian Gulf to Haifa. The Trans-Arabian pipeline operated until 1967, when it fell into disuse. The remains of the pipeline can still be seen on the Golan Heights.
Brilliant.
This takes massive power away from Iran - and might bring peace in the long run...
Brilliant.
China can't risk Hormuz being shut down... They've got skin in the game when it comes to NOT allowing Iran to start a war with the world.
There had been a working pipeline from saudia Arabia in the past. It was built half out of 31 inch and the other half out of 30 inch pipe. The line was never modernized, and full into extreme neglect. It was plagued with ongoing vandalism and guerrilla attacks. When we were building up for desert shield/ storm we even paved most of the right of way to use as a one way road from the Med to the east. It is a marvel to behold and admire. When they finally began to decommission the pipeline they drilled a series of water wells to be able to displace the remaining oil to empty all those miles of pipe. It took them YEARS. The tank farm and off-shore loading mooring as still present and visible.
Any pipeline that is built in the region either by Israel or others will experience similar fates. Yes technology and countermeasures are better, but any pipeline of length is exposed to these risks.
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