Sept LNG shipments through Hormuz hit highest since start of US-Iran war

Business Recorder reported, citing S&P Global Energy, that 19 liquefied natural gas cargoes left the Strait of Hormuz in September, the highest monthly figure for the period since the start of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. Qatar accounted for 13 of the cargoes and the United Arab Emirates for six. The June count was 15, a month in which a US-Iran pact had come into force, according to S&P senior principal analyst Eric Yep.

Kpler data put the September total at 21 cargoes, up from 15 in June. Kpler and LSEG ship-tracking figures showed that three more LNG vessels loaded at Qatar's Ras Laffan terminal had resurfaced beyond the strait this week, two of them linked to QatarEnergy. Many vessels pass through the strait with their transponders turned off to avoid detection, making so-called dark transits.

Yep said the central question is if LNG flows via the strait can hold up through winter. That depends on whether Iran would step up military action if larger exports are seen as eroding its grip on the strait, and whether convoys escorted by the US navy can keep going despite their expense. Before the war, which began on February 28, the waterway handled about a fifth of worldwide crude oil and LNG flows.