Pakistan in Talks With Iran for More Qatar LNG Via Hormuz
(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan held talks with Iran to allow a limited number of Qatari liquefied natural gas cargoes to transit the Strait of Hormuz, as Qatar sent through its first shipment since the war began.
The Al Kharaitiyat, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant earlier this month, exited the strait and was in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg shows. The vessel, which lists Pakistan as its next destination, appears to have navigated the Tehran-approved northern route that hugs the Iranian coast through the strait, the data showed.
The shipment is part of Pakistan’s negotiations with Iran for additional Qatari LNG cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz to help meet urgent demand, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. A Pakistani tanker delivered a diesel shipment from Kuwait in recent days, after turning back multiple times previously.
Pakistan, which is mediating between the US and Iran in the conflict, is struggling with a gas shortfall and battling widespread blackouts as shipments from its primary provider Qatar dried up with the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has tightened its grip on the vital waterway since the war began at the end of February and vessels have continued to face security threats around the region.
The Pakistan government’s petroleum division spokesperson Zafar Abbas didn’t respond to a request for comment about the LNG shipments. Neither did Iran’s foreign ministry.
Three tankers laden with Qatari LNG that are currently in the Persian Gulf are signaling Pakistan as their destination. While these and the Al Kharaitiyat’s journey might offer tentative signs that more LNG flows could resume, it’s a far cry from prewar levels of roughly three shipments a day out of the Persian Gulf. At least two LNG tankers that loaded from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s export plant have traversed the strait since the conflict began, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.
Qatar had made several previous attempts to send shipments through Hormuz, but the tankers had eventually turned around. The country, which produced almost a fifth of global LNG supply last year, hasn’t been able to move LNG out of the Persian Gulf in the war that’s now in its third month.
Qatar’s Nakilat owns the Al Kharaitiyat, according to ship database Equasis. Nakilat and QatarEnergy did not respond to a request for comment.
(Updates with context from the fourth paragraph.)
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