The Strait of Hormuz and India’s Energy Security

1.1 Where exactly is the Strait of Hormuz?

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow sea passage. EIA says it lies between Oman and Iran. It joins the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, and the Gulf of Oman leads on to the Arabian Sea. NASA’s photo caption describes the two gulfs in the same way.

Iran forms the northern shore. Oman’s Musandam exclave forms the southern shore, says Britannica. An exclave is a piece of a country cut off from the main part. The Commons description of the photo below adds that the United Arab Emirates separates Musandam from the rest of Oman.

1.2 Why is a narrow sea passage called a chokepoint?

EIA defines chokepoints as narrow channels along widely used global sea routes. They are critical to global energy security. EIA adds that oil stuck at a major chokepoint, even for a short time, can cause supply delays. It can also raise shipping costs and may raise world energy prices.

A common slip is to think the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman are the same water. They are not. The strait is the door between them.

1.3 How wide is the strait?

IEA says the strait is 21 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point, which it gives as 39 km. USNI gives the same figure. IEA’s own pair of numbers shows that a nautical mile is a little under 2 km.

Britannica gives a different range. It says the strait is 35 to 60 miles (55 to 95 km) wide. The sources do not explain why the figures differ. IEA and USNI both name 21 nautical miles as the narrowest point.

1.4 How do ships keep apart inside it?

IEA says ships use channels about 2 miles wide for inbound and outbound traffic. A buffer zone of 2 miles sits between them. USNI calls the lanes two nautical miles wide each way.

• Britannica says the lanes lie mostly in Omani waters and somewhat in Iranian waters.
• Britannica adds that they are governed by international maritime law.
• The IMO says the Traffic Separation Scheme was proposed by Iran and Oman and adopted by the IMO in 1968.
• The IMO says the scheme sets shipping lanes to reduce collisions and improve safety.

Note that Britannica says the lanes lie mostly in Omani waters. Iran controls the strait north of the lanes, and Oman controls it south of them.

1.5 How much oil passes through?

EIA says total oil flows through the strait averaged 20.9 million barrels a day in the first half of 2025. That equals about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption. It is also one-quarter of the oil traded by sea.

• EIA’s June 2025 note says flows averaged 20 million barrels a day in 2024, also about 20% of consumption.
• EIA says over 20% of global LNG trade passed through in the first half of 2025, mainly from Qatar. LNG means natural gas cooled into a liquid for shipping.
• In his Lok Sabha statement of 12 March 2026, India’s Petroleum Minister put it at 20% of the world’s crude, gas and LPG.

These are dated snapshots. EIA’s flow figures end in the first half of 2025. They do not describe the strait after the 2026 disruption.

2.1 Which countries sit inside the Persian Gulf?

Britannica places each of these countries on the Persian Gulf. These four are the ones to remember for the exam.

• Bahrain is a small Arab state in the Persian Gulf. It is made of Bahrain Island and about 30 smaller islands.
• Qatar is an emirate on the west coast of the Persian Gulf. It occupies a small desert peninsula.
• Kuwait sits in the northwestern corner of the Persian Gulf.
• Iraq has a small coastline of 36 miles (58 km) at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.

The strait is the link from this gulf to the Gulf of Oman. So a ship that sails from these four countries to the open sea must cross it. That step is our own reasoning from the maps.

2.2 Which countries do not need Hormuz?

Syria and Egypt do not. Britannica describes Syria’s coast as about 110 miles (180 km) long on the Mediterranean Sea. It describes no Persian Gulf coast.

Egypt has the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869. Britannica says the canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. EIA says the Bab al-Mandeb Strait connects the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea. Together those links lead out to the Indian Ocean without Hormuz. That last step is our own reasoning.

The last column is our summary of the cited pages.

3.1 Can oil avoid the strait altogether?

Only in part. EIA says that if the strait were closed, the alternatives could move only a portion of the oil. IEA says only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have crude pipelines that could bypass it.

IEA estimates 3.5 to 5.5 million barrels a day of available capacity on those pipelines. EIA’s page of March 2026 puts the combined capacity at about 4.7 million barrels a day. The two bodies give different estimates, so quote one with its name and date.

• Saudi Arabia: IEA says the East-West pipeline runs from Abqaiq to Yanbu on the Red Sea. Its total design capacity is 5 million barrels a day.
• UAE: IEA says the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline runs 400 km from Habshan to Fujairah.

3.2 Who buys the oil that crosses it?

EIA estimates that 89% of Hormuz crude went to Asian markets in the first half of 2025. China, India, Japan and South Korea took a combined 74%.

This is why India watches the strait so closely. India is one of the top four buyers of the crude that crosses it.

4.1 How much of India's crude crossed Hormuz?

India imports about 88% of its crude oil, says a Press Trust of India (PTI) report of 8 March 2026. India Briefing says it uses roughly 5.5 million barrels a day. Several shares are quoted for the strait, so each needs its date and speaker.

The 53% counts crude from five Gulf suppliers. It is not a count of ships through the strait. PTI says exposure rose as refiners cut Russian purchases.

The Minister’s own pair of numbers lines up. 45% through the strait before the crisis means 55% from elsewhere.

4.2 How did India cut the risk?

The Minister told the Lok Sabha that non-Hormuz sourcing had risen to about 70% of crude imports, up from 55%. He said India sources crude from 40 countries, against 27 in 2006-07.

The Joint Secretary said on 11 March 2026 that the crude secured by the Government exceeds what normally arrived through the strait. These are Government statements. The pages do not give an independent count.

Our own sum shows the limit of this. If 70% now comes from outside, about 30% still depends on the strait.

4.3 What happened to gas supplies?

India produces about 90 MMSCMD of natural gas at home, says the Minister. MMSCMD means million metric standard cubic metres a day. A further 30 MMSCMD was earlier imported through Gulf sources. Those sources were hit by a force majeure declaration at a major Qatari facility.

The Natural Gas Control Order of 9 March 2026 set a priority list. Piped gas for homes and CNG for vehicles get 100% of supply, with no cuts.

5.1 Where is Chabahar, and what does India run there?

Al Jazeera places the port in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. It has two terminals, Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti. India is involved in Shahid Beheshti and has invested at least $120 million in its equipment.

The strait joins the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. So a port on the Gulf of Oman is on the ocean side of the strait. That reading of the map is our own.

5.2 Why does India want it?

Al Jazeera says the port has been the centrepiece of India’s hopes for a trade and transit corridor to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia. It says tensions with Pakistan rule out a land route.

Chabahar gives a sea route to Iran. Road and rail then run through Iran to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Al Jazeera adds that the port is about 140 km west of Gwadar, also a deep-water port on the Gulf of Oman.

5.3 What happened to the US sanctions waiver?

Al Jazeera says the US revoked its Iran-sanctions exemptions in September 2025, including the one for Chabahar. India then got the Chabahar exemption extended until 26 April 2026.

• Al Jazeera says the waiver expired on Sunday 26 April 2026. The Ministry of External Affairs said it was discussing the issue with Tehran and Washington.
• The MEA spokesperson also said the current conflict is a complicating factor.
• PTI reported on 31 July 2026 that the Government told the Lok Sabha it is engaged with stakeholders. It said India Ports Global Limited has operated the port since 2018.
• The Economic Times says India upheld its USD 120 million commitment. It also notes a 10-year operating contract signed in May 2024.
• Al Jazeera adds that the February 2026 budget gave Chabahar no money, the first such omission in nearly a decade.

These are reports up to August 2026. The port’s later status is not covered here.

6.1 What did the Petroleum Minister tell the Lok Sabha?

On 12 March 2026, Hardeep Singh Puri said it was the 13th day since passage through the strait had been disrupted. He tied the disruption to a military operation between Iran, Israel and the US.

He said the strait had been effectively closed to commercial shipping. He called this a first in recorded history. These are the Minister’s words, not an independent finding.

6.2 How many Indian seafarers were at risk?

All India Radio reported an inter-ministerial briefing on 11 March 2026. A Special Secretary said 28 Indian-flag vessels with 778 Indian seafarers were operating in the Persian Gulf.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said two Indian nationals had died and one was missing on merchant vessels that came under attack. That is a statement of that date.

6.3 Why must every figure carry a date?

The strait’s situation changed through 2026. EIA’s flow data end in mid-2025. The Minister’s shares are from March 2026. The Chabahar reports run to August 2026. Mixing these dates gives wrong comparisons.

7.1 What did PIB report on 14 July 2026?

PIB reports attacks on two merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa. The two ships carried 46 crew in all, of whom 30 were Indian.

• On MT Al Bahiyah, one Indian seafarer lost his life and another was injured.
• On MT Mombasa, nine Indian nationals were injured, two of them seriously.

DD India says the Centre announced its measures on Tuesday, 14 July 2026.

7.2 What is the Seafarer-First response?

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal chaired an inter-ministerial review on 14 July 2026. He launched a “Seafarer-First” response. PIB lists the main steps.

• Real-time monitoring, vessel by vessel.
• A dedicated liaison officer for every affected Indian seafarer.
• Round-the-clock coordination by the shipping ministry with other ministries and the Indian Navy.
• A dashboard by the Director General of Shipping to account for every Indian on every vessel, whatever the flag.

DD India adds that a 24×7 grievance support system was activated. It includes helplines, a WhatsApp number and email support. DD India also says the Government raised the matter at the IMO.

8.1 What did UPSC ask in 2026?

The answer is 1 and 3. Bahrain and Qatar lie in the Persian Gulf. Syria faces the Mediterranean. Egypt reaches the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.

The UPSC answer-keys page listed no key for this paper when we checked on 8 October 2026. So this answer comes from the geography above. The Indian Express quiz of 1 June 2026 also gives 1 and 3.

8.2 What did CAPF (ACs) ask in 2026?

The answer is the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, as EIA and NASA say. We found no official key for this paper either, so this is our reading of the sources.

8.3 Which traps repeat in this topic?

• Two gulfs. The strait joins the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Chabahar is on the Gulf of Oman.
• Gulf countries. Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq need Hormuz. Egypt and Syria do not.
• Width. 21 nautical miles is the narrowest point (IEA). The 35 to 60 miles is Britannica’s range for the whole strait.
• India’s shares. 41% (2025), 45% (before the crisis) and 53% (February 2026, five Gulf suppliers) are different measures.
• Seafarer-First. It came from the shipping minister on 14 July 2026, not the petroleum minister.