Third Qatari LNG Tanker Through Hormuz to China; First to Beijing-Direct
A third Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Sahla (211,842 cubic metres), is transiting the Strait of Hormuz and heading to China, the first material commercial movement to China direct since the war began. The vessel left Ras Laffan and is expected to arrive at China’s Tianjin LNG terminal on 14 June. The previous two Qatari LNG tankers to make it through the strait since the US-Israeli airstrikes unleashed the war at the end of February were sold by Qatar to Pakistan under a government-to-government deal. Shipments “continue to be erratic”.
QatarEnergy’s CEO has said that repairs to the export facilities damaged by the conflict could take between three and five years; Qatar’s normal LNG export capacity is 12.8 million metric tons per year. The third tanker’s flow to China — rather than to a Pakistan transit re-sale — is the operational signal that the Iranian protection-racket framework described by ISW yesterday is now operating at the bilateral-agreement level for top-tier strategic partners. India, by contrast, has 13 Indian-flagged vessels and one Indian-owned vessel still stranded on the west side of the strait.