Six months into Hormuz blockade, Qatar and UAE test ways to keep LNG moving
Qatar and the UAE are using ship-to-ship transfers to reroute LNG cargoes around the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, with three such transfers recorded in August off Oman and the UAE. The operations add more than $1 million and up to 35 hours per transfer. Gulf LNG loadings fell sharply, with Qatar exporting 18 cargoes in the first six months of the Iran war versus 509 a year earlier, though non-Gulf production offset about three-quarters of the fall.
Why it matters: This matters for energy security because the blockade of Hormuz is forcing costly emergency transfers and exposing the vulnerability of global LNG supply to a single chokepoint.