| A liquefied natural gas tanker that loaded in Qatar early last month has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, the first visible exit of the country's LNG via the waterway since July. The Al Marrouna was in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday morning local time, signaling Port Qasim in Pakistan as its next destination, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The ship - which has a potential arrival date of Thursday - was broadcasting its location during the journey through Hormuz. The transit comes after several empty Qatari LNG tankers started heading back toward the Persian Gulf, a sign the supplier may be positioning vessels for a resumption of exports through Hormuz even after the recent escalation between the US and Iran in the region. Qatar, which accounted for a fifth of the world's LNG exports before the war, had all but halted shipments since one of its tankers was attacked in late July. ALSO READ: Iran's Big Warning To US: Economic Warfare Will Be Met By Maritime Exclusion Zone Gas prices in Europe and Asia surged to their highest levels in over three years in recent days amid fresh strikes on vessels in the region and persistent disruptions to Qatari exports. A wider resumption of flows would bring relief, particularly to price-sensitive South Asian buyers struggling with shortages and power blackouts. Still, outbound LNG flows from the Persian Gulf remain below pre-war levels of three shipments a day. On Monday, Iran said a deal with Oman to manage shipping through Hormuz was imminent, a move traders are still weighing because it could tighten Tehran's control over the waterway and raise questions about how the US would respond. Last month, Qatar extended force majeure on LNG deliveries to European and Asian buyers into October, helping keep prices elevated. Yet it has continued loading the fuel onto available empty tankers inside the Gulf and exporting it to Kuwait, allowing it to manage storage and keep parts of its massive export complex running at minimum levels. Maintaining some output keeps equipment operational and gives state-owned QatarEnergy the flexibility to ramp up more quickly if tensions in the waterway ease. |
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.