A ship managed by Abu Dhabi’s state oil company, Adnoc, appears to be the first fully loaded liquefied natural gas tanker to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Iran war in late February, according to global maritime data firm Kpler.
The flow of liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively halted over the past two months, as the United States and Iran tightened restrictions on the movement of ships. The United States has blocked ships belonging to Iran, and Iran has attacked or threatened ships carrying oil, LNG and other products through the Persian Gulf.
Before the war, about 20 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas was produced in the Middle East, with virtually all of it going to Asia. In 2025, an average of about three LNG-laden tankers will pass through the Strait of Hormuz every day, according to Kpler data analyzed by The New York Times.
It is not clear exactly when the ship, Mubarak, crossed the strait, but according to ship-tracking data, it was near Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Adnoc did not respond to a request for comment.
“The ship has turned off its transponder for almost a month,” Charles Kosterous, an analyst at Kepler Insight, said in a note to clients late Monday. The ship’s transponder had been turned off for about a month since March 31, he said, and it was not clear which route the tanker had taken through the strait.
The closure of the strait has increased energy costs, especially in Asia and Europe.
Natural gas makes up about a quarter of the global energy supply. According to the International Energy Agency, LNG production from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates fell by nearly 10 billion cubic meters that month.
The Mubaraz tanker, carrying 137,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, was loaded at Das Island in the United Arab Emirates on March 2. Kepler said that the ship was probably heading towards some country in Asia. Countries across Asia that rely heavily on LNG for power are already switching to oil- and coal-powered power generation and in some cases cutting back on use.
evan penn contributed reporting
