Qatari LNG Ship Struck in Strait of Hormuz, Testing US Talks
(Bloomberg) -- A Qatari liquefied natural gas carrier was hit and a laden Saudi oil tanker suffered damage as they exited the Strait of Hormuz, heightening unease among shipowners and testing a US-Iran agreement to halt attacks.
The Al Rekayyat gas carrier was struck in the early hours of Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. Separately, a person familiar with the matter said that a Saudi crude oil tanker was damaged while leaving Hormuz, without providing further details, while a UK naval group issued a report of a third attack.
The crew of the Qatari gas carrier have abandoned ship, one person familiar with the matter said. It is anchored southeast of Limah, Oman, according to Pakistan’s Hydrographic service, which monitors shipping in the area.
Three separate attacks on ships would mark the highest number since the US and Iran signed an interim peace deal last month, underscoring the continued risks to ships crossing through Hormuz. Tehran has repeatedly said it won’t allow vessels to transit the waterway without its permission. Meanwhile, the US has continued to manage a shipping corridor along the Omani side of the strait, keeping ships away from Iranian waters.
A handful of ships transited Hormuz using both the Iranian and Omani routes on Tuesday. Oil prices rose as much as 3%, while European gas futures added as much as 6%.
The Qatari vessel, owned by the nation’s state-owned shipping company Nakilat, is the first LNG tanker from the country to come under attack since the war began, and marks a significant setback for its efforts to revive exports after months of near-paralysis.
The incident comes at a delicate moment for diplomacy, with Qatar serving as a key intermediary in negotiations between the US and Iran over ending the conflict. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman said Iran should cease all practices that harm regional security.
Any attacks involving Saudi oil tankers would also raise concerns in oil markets. While the kingdom can export some crude via its Red Sea terminal at Yanbu, it still relies on Hormuz to fully restore flows to normal levels. Saudi ships have been among the slowest in Gulf nations to return to the waterway. Exports have remained uneven, occasionally nearing pre-war levels.
The Saudi and Qatari vessels were transiting Hormuz without their transponders on, ship-tracking data show, a common measure to avoid attracting attention.
QatarEnergy, Nakilat, Saudi tanker giant Bahri and the Saudi Energy Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The strike has already raised fresh concerns among shipowners. Al Areesh, another LNG tanker that loaded in Qatar and was headed out of the Persian Gulf, appeared to turn before the strait on Tuesday before sailing in circles, according to shipping data. It had been signaling Pakistan’s Port Qasim as its destination.
Other traffic continued to flow, however. At least two Japan-linked supertankers were sailing through the strait on the Iran-approved route, together with a China-bound liquefied petroleum gas carrier. To the south, a convoy of at least six ships, including three very large crude carriers, appears to be approaching the Omani coastline on the way out of the Persian Gulf.
Hormuz has been a focal point for all sides since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran in late February, as shipowners assess the safety of the crossing in order to dispatch vessels in and out of the Persian Gulf. Even after an interim peace deal signed last month, Tehran continues to seek to assert its dominance over the thoroughfare.
Traffic has improved since the agreement, but continues to face challenges and interruptions, as Iran periodically blocks transits on routes it has not approved, or attacks vessels. On Monday, a group of Japan-linked ships appeared to have transited the strait by hewing to an Iran-approved route.
Still, there is as yet little clarity over a permanent solution to manage the chokepoint amid talks aimed at achieving a lasting peace.
The Iran-approved corridor along the north side of the strait has seen two-thirds of all transits in recent days, according to data from intelligence firm Kpler Ltd., with the rest crossing along the US-managed Oman route.
Out of the 25 ships that transited Hormuz on Monday alone, only three did so on the Omani side with their transponders on, the data show — despite an update from regional naval forces reminding shipowners that the US-managed Oman route remained available for use.
“The continued use of different shipping lanes suggests that traffic through the strait remains operational, but is fragmented as shipowners adopt different routing strategies based on their individual risk assessments,” said Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler.
The attack came as President Donald Trump headed to a NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara, Turkey. The US war with Iran is expected to be a major topic of discussion, with Trump having expressed anger at several members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for not doing more to help the US against the Islamic Republic.
Talks between the US and Iran were suspended as Tehran began a mass funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war in late February. Qatar said the next meeting would be scheduled as soon as possible after the funeral ceremonies. Khamenei is scheduled to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9.
(Updates with status of Qatari ship from second paragraph.)
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