LNG

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz resumes, with 22 Japan-linked ships, including six large crude oil tankers and several LNG carriers, transited the strait to exit between July 7 and 9, transport minister Yasushi Kaneko said at a news conference in Tokyo. The number of Japan-flagged vessels in the Gulf has fallen from 45 to just four, with shipowners declining to comment on safety precautions for the crew.

Five crude oil and LNG tankers have turned back from attempts to transit the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the area. As tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran continue, maritime authorities raised the risk of transiting Hormuz to “severe.”

Canada has moved closer to unlocking a new Pacific Coast crude outlet from Alberta while fast-tracking British Columbia LNG projects with the aim of tripping LNG production and export beyond 2030.

A suspected drone strike on a merchant vessel near the Strait of Hormuz is testing a fragile U.S.–Iran framework agreement to restore shipping flows through one of the world’s most critical energy corridors, with implications for LNG trade.

Global oil and LNG shocks are likely to abate following a comprehensive US-Iran peace deal, but embedded inflation and second-round effects are just beginning, Fitch Rating warns. Global inflation likely peaked in the second quarter of 2026, analysts said, but knock-on effects from the initial jump in energy prices threaten to keep inflation elevated in several markets.

Tehran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz immediately after the US and Iran signed a memorandum to end the conflict in Versailles late on June 17 – earlier than planned. Oil and gas prices fell sharply on the news, and LNG benchmarks trimmed the geopolitical risk premium that has buoyed them since the conflict intensified.

The British government is anticipated to announce new sanctions today targeting Russia’s illicit shadow fleet for oil and LNG, following the interception of a sanctioned Russian oil tanker in the Channel on Sunday. The move could disrupt a segment of LNG trade that relied on opaque shipping and financing channels.

Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will result in a “quick drop in prices,” though Fitch Rating assumes a five-month closure of the critical waterway through July. Oil markets began to balance in the interim thanks to pipelines, but LNG cargoes stay largely trapped.

China wants to buy more American oil and may lift its 25% tariff on US LNG imports as “energy is the one thing they really need,” President Donald Trump told Fox News. Beijing could unilaterally approve the resumption of US LNG imports, but the country has proven resilient to Qatari supply disruptions in the third month of the Middle East conflict.

Supermajors are redirecting capital towards LNG and other core oil & gas businesses, while retrenching from energy transition-related investment. Majors with large US LNG positions – notably Shell, BP and TotalEnergies – benefit from wider export margins and rising demand in 2026.