Qatar and UAE LNG Carriers Complete Ship-to-Ship Transfer Bypassing Strait of Hormuz
nashnova research
Three LNG carriers loaded in Qatar and the UAE completed rare ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz over the past month, but the strait remains effectively shut for LNG traffic — and with U.S.-Iran clashes escalating again, Asian and European gas prices have hit multi-month highs ahead of winter.
What exactly happened outside the strait?
Over the past month, three LNG tankers carrying cargoes from Qatar and the UAE transferred their loads to other vessels outside the Strait of Hormuz — a ship-to-ship (STS) operation extremely rare in the LNG industry.
This means → Persian Gulf gas producers are testing a way to bypass the strait entirely, offloading cargo at sea so a second ship can deliver it without entering the chokepoint.
In plain terms = the highway is blocked, so they pull over outside and switch trucks — same cargo, different vehicle.
What happened to each ship?
GasLog Shanghai (Greek-owned): suffered an "incident" in the strait in late July; transferred its cargo to GasLog Savannah off Oman in late August.
Al Rekayyat (QatarEnergy): hit by shrapnel near the strait in early July; completed an STS transfer to fellow QatarEnergy vessel Tembek in mid-August, with the cargo reaching India on August 31.
Mraweh (Abu Dhabi's ADNOC): transferred its cargo to LNG Enugu off Oman in mid-August; the vessel is currently en route to Japan.
Can this solve the strait blockage?
No. STS operations for LNG are far harder than for crude oil. These three transfers are isolated cases; overall Persian Gulf LNG flows remain at a standstill.
This means → this is triage, not a fix — individual cargoes can find a way out, but the workaround cannot replace an open strait.
This reflects the producers' constrained position: they can move a few cargoes piecemeal, but no scalable alternative route exists.
What does this mean for gas prices?
Supply disruption plus renewed direct U.S.-Iran clashes this week pushed Asian LNG spot prices to a five-month high and European benchmark gas prices to a three-and-a-half-year high.
In plain terms = less gas getting out, fighting escalating — buyers scramble for limited spot cargoes, and prices get bid up.
The market's single biggest uncertainty: whether the Hormuz LNG corridor can reopen meaningfully before winter demand peaks — if it cannot, winter gas prices could climb further still.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。