Pakistan has negotiated the passage of vessels laden with Qatari LNG out of the Strait of Hormuz in a diplomatic feat that no other energy buyer has managed so far in the Iran war.
Pakistan, which was the mediator of the U.S.-Iran talks and is passing messages from one to the other, appears to have used well its close ties with both Qatar and Iran to negotiate the successful imports of two tankers with Qatari LNG.
Pakistan has relied on Qatar’s term LNG supply for years, but the war in the Middle East has led to the shutdown of Qatari LNG production and exports.
Without Qatar’s LNG, Pakistan has been reeling from an intensifying energy crisis with power outages and fuel rationing.
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Thanks to a bilateral Pakistan-Iran agreement, two vessels carrying Qatari LNG arrived in Pakistan in recent days after successfully passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The first LNG cargo that successfully cleared the chokepoint earlier this month was bound for Pakistan.
“Qatar-linked LNG movement through Hormuz showed a limited but significant restart,” maritime intelligence firm Windward said on Thursday in an analysis on the five weeks of ceasefire.
The Al Kharaitiyat on May 9 became the first Qatar LNG cargo to clear the Strait of Hormuz since Iran closed it on February 28, headed for Pakistan. Another Qatari LNG cargo arrived in Pakistan this week after clearing the chokepoint earlier in the week.
“Pakistan will continue to coordinate closely with Qatar to ensure uninterrupted LNG supplies,” Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum, Ali Pervaiz Malik, said on Thursday during a meeting with Qatar’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Ali bin Mubarak Al-Khater.
“Pakistan’s preference is to secure supplies from friendly brotherly countries through necessary approvals, without risking any loss of life or property,” the Pakistani minister said, adding that “efforts are underway to secure additional gas supplies in view of national energy requirements.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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