LNG

Qatar’s attempt to revive LNG exports through the Strait of Hormuz is becoming as much a shipping and crewing problem as an energy-supply challenge. In the four weeks after the first Qatari LNG carrier crossed the waterway on September 10, about 20 laden tankers exited Hormuz, though transits volumes still are at roughly one-third of pre-war levels.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will fly to Washington for a state visit on 24 September in a bid to stabilise a relationship strained by tariffs and technology controls. LNG markets eagerly await whether Xi will agree to remove the 15% tariff on US LNG imports to China, which currently renders such imports uneconomic.

Oil prices have plunged on Monday as fresh U.S.-Iran talks raise hopes for a reinstatement of Middle Eastern oil and LNG deliveries. The November Brent contract was seen trading as low as $99.07 barrel at the time of writing, pulling down oil-indexed term LNG prices.

Asyad Shipping has agreed to sell minority stakes in the companies that own its two newest carriers, Muscat LNG and Musandam LNG, to two Omani investors. The deal leaves Asyad with 80% of each vessel-owning company and brings domestic capital into the group’s gas-shipping platform.

The Japan Korea Marker (JKM) for LNG delivery into northeast Asia for September could exceed $22/MMBtu at the start of this week as shipping disruptions widens and competition for Atlantic Basin cargoes intensifies between Europe and Asia.

Qatar Gas Transport Company, better known as Nakilat, has kept first-half net profit broadly flat at 857 million Qatari Riyals, even as its Marine Services segment was “significantly affected” by the military conflict in the region.

Security costs rather than freight fundamentals are increasingly determining LNG shipping economics. Owners face "between 6 and 10 million dollars for every single shipment" before vessels enter the Strait of Hormuz, simply to secure additional insurance cover, said Tom Beney, Senior Vice President of Ocean Freight at StoneX.

The arbitrage for flexible US LNG cargoes heading to Asia is open with spreads between the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) and the Dutch TTF widening, as the tepid recovery of Qatari and UAE LNG exports is unlikely to outpace rebounding Asian demand.

Limited shipbuilding capacity in South Korea and China could slow down a record expansion of global LNG supply. One of the industry’s dependencies – the ability to physically move gas – rests on a supply chain it cannot control and cannot quickly replicate, Ikram Elloumi, director of research at Wood Mackenzie warns.

Japan’s JERA has launched a vertically integrated unit – JERA Global Energy Solutions – to consolidate and optimise its LNG portfolio across upstream, LNG, lower-carbon fuels, and shipping. The new entity will work closely with JERA’s LNG trading platform JERA Global Market to coordinate physical supply with trading strategies.