KUALA LUMPUR — Whenever tensions in the Middle East flare — particularly when Iran once again hints at closing the Strait of Hormuz — a familiar question resurfaces with almost ritual predictability: if this chokepoint is so dangerously critical, why not simply bypass it? Why not lay pipelines from the oil fields along the Persian Gulf that can run across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or even Oman, and deliver crude directly to the Arabian Sea for export?