Gulf Energy Infrastructure After the Iran War: Pipeline Boom, China's Buying Pause, and the End of Hormuz Dependency

The U.S.-Iran conflict that began in early 2026 has triggered the most aggressive re-engineering of Gulf energy export infrastructure in decades. Facing a near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—a chokepoint that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG supply—Gulf producers are racing to build and expand pipeline bypass routes at a cost of $30–48 billion. The structural shift is so profound that Goldman Sachs now expects Hormuz flows may never fully recover to pre-war levels . This article provides a fact-checked breakdown of the key developments, from specific pipeline projects and Goldman's projections to China's role as an accidental buffer and the new