Qatar Makes Another Attempt to Send LNG Ship Through Hormuz
(Bloomberg) — A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas from Qatar is trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; If successful, this would be the country’s first exports outside the region since the start of the Iran war.
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Ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the Al Kharaitiyat, which was loaded at the Ras Laffan export facility earlier this month, is now in the waterway between Oman and Iran. According to the data, the ship listed Pakistan as its next destination.
According to tracking data, the ship was sailing on a Tehran-approved northern route and passed by Larak Island.
Qatar made many attempts to ship via Hormuz, but every tanker had to turn back. The country, which produced almost a fifth of global LNG supply last year, has been unable to extract any LNG from the Persian Gulf since the conflict began at the end of February.
The effective closure of the waterway cut off global supplies of the super-chilled fuel, causing prices to rise and shortages in emerging Asian markets. Ships continue to face security threats as both Iran and the United States maintain de facto blockades.
At least two LNG tankers loaded from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s export facility have crossed the strait since the start of the conflict, Bloomberg reported earlier this week. While these trips offer tentative signs that greater flows may resume, this is a far cry from pre-war levels of about three shipments per day.
Qatari Nakilat owns Al Kharaitiyat, according to the Equasis ship database. Nakilat and QatarEnergy did not respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
–With help from Ruth Liao and Paul Burkhardt.
(Updates with the ship’s location.)
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