To The Editor,
Contracts were signed in Iran last week for a 1,000-kilometre (620- mile) pipeline that will run from oilfields at Goreh in Bushehr province in the Persian Gulf to a new tidewater terminal at Bandar-e-Jask on the Gulf of Oman. The reason for the new construction is to by-pass the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% percent of the world’s oil is exported every day, making it the world’s most strategic waterway.
Iran, with its predominantly Shia Muslim population, has long been a target of Saudi Arabia with its Western allies, and of Israel, along with many Sunni Muslim entities in the volatile Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz is controlled by Iran, but there is a constant threat, and opening a new terminal close to the Pakistani border can only be seen as a smart move to safeguard vital exports. About seven years ago the United Arab Emirates opened their new terminal at Fujairah on the southern Gulf of Oman, for precisely the same reason of bypassing Hormuz.
When Canadians read of such forward-looking developments in a part of the world that has for so long been a tinder-box, they may have to give their collective heads a shake when considering the last four years of Liberal governmental policies towards Albertan oil producers striving for natural resources to reach tidewater.
The government caused the Enbridge Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C. and the Energy East pipeline to Quebec and New Brunswick to be cancelled, after millions were spent in development. The remaining TransMountain expansion pipeline is still in play, but constantly targeted by court challenges from so many political parties, Indigenous groups and well-funded organizations, all spreading mendacious misinformed malfeasance about tanker safety, etc. Something for voters to consider on election day, Oct. 21.
Bernie Smith,
Parksville