The first LNG vessel to cross the Strait of Hormuz since the end of February has exited the chokepoint and is currently nearing India’s shores, Bloomberg reported, citing tanker-tracking data.
The tanker, Mubaraz, is sailing under a Liberian flag. According to MarineTraffic data, it is still in the Persian Gulf but the website reports the latest information it had on it was from late March. Per the data cited by Bloomberg, the Mubaraz loaded at the UAE’s Das Island and has successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz, after idling in the Persian Gulf until March 31.
On that date, the Mubaraz stopped transmitting its location, which has become common practice for vessels traversing the Strait of Hormuz since the war between the U.S. and Israel, and Iran began at the end of February. According to the Bloomberg report, the tanker is signaling a Chinese port as its final destination. It should reach that destination in mid-May.
The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz stranded all Qatari and UAE supplies of LNG. Additionally, Qatar’s LNG capacity has been severely damaged by Iranian missile attacks, which forced state firm QatarEnergy to declare force majeure on contracts and start quantifying the losses.
Over the past month, Asia’s imports of LNG have plunged to their lowest level since the Covid pandemic crashed demand in June 2020, as the Middle East war trapped supply and pushed prices to multi-year highs.
The 30-day moving average of net LNG shipments to Asia plummeted below 600,000 tons this weekend, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed earlier this month. This was the lowest one-month moving average of LNG arrivals into Asia since June 2020, according to the data.
The news of a loaded LNG tanker being allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, if confirmed, would be a rare piece of good news for energy flows out of the Persian Gulf.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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