There are more signs that Qatar is ramping up liquefied natural gas exports as prices surge and inventories dwindle ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter. One tanker is now sailing toward Poland through the Red Sea, according to Bloomberg, and at least 20 more shipments have passed through the Strait of Hormuz to other destinations since early September. The gas could help halt the surge in consumer prices and slow the decline of Qatar’s $200 billion economy, which the IMF expects to contract by 15.6% this year.
It’s unclear how the LNG is getting out: Qatar’s prime minister said last month that buyers had negotiated passage with Iran for the few cargoes that made it through during the first six months of the war. But Doha also seems to have adopted the “Hormuz shuttle” strategy Gulf crude exporters are using.
Tracing the journey of Al Rayyan, one of Qatar’s oldest LNG tankers, Bloomberg tracked the vessel transferring its cargo to another ship in the Gulf of Oman before returning to Ras Laffan to reload. LNG ship-to-ship transfers are more complex than oil transfers, requiring cryogenic hoses to handle gas chilled to minus 162 C (minus 260 F). The effort is paying off, however: QatarEnergy restored LNG exports in September to about a third of prewar levels, Bloomberg reported.
