Qatar and UAE turn to ship-to-ship transfer outside Strait of Hormuz

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have commenced doing ship-to-ship (STS) transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz for LNG cargoes, Reuters reported on September 2.

According to ship track firms, deliveries have been able to be completed using this structure which breaks up the risk of passing through the Strait of Hormuz from the ocean voyage to Asian buyers, including Japan and India.

With LNG vessels coming under fire from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qatar and the UAE have shown a willingness to adopt this approach and send smaller, less expensive tankers through the strait and reduce the risk of expensive LNG tankers being damaged by missiles and projectiles.

The vessel GasLog Shanghai, owned by Greek shipping line GasLog, was stuck off the coast of Oman while exiting the Strait of Hormuz on July 31. The vessel transported a cargo from Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial Complex before facilitating an STS transfer off the coast of Oman with GasLog Savannah in late August.

In early July, a missile fired by Iranian forces hit the Al Rekayyat LNG tanker as it was attempting to exit the strait. In mid-August, data from Kpler and Vortexa revealed that an STS transfer was carried out along the UAE’s east coast with Tembek, another LNG tanker belonging to QatarEnergy.

Tembek delivered the cargo of super-chilled fuel to India’s Dahej terminal in western India on August 31, according to Kpler data.

Additionally, a vessel of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) also carried out an STS transfer off the coast of Oman. The Mraweh transferred its cargo to LNG Enugu in mid- August, according to Kpler and Vortexa.

The cargo of super-chilled fuel was loaded from Das Island and LNG Enugu is now en route to Japan, Kpler data shows.

According to Kpler, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has plummeted by almost 90% from pre-war levels. Prior to the conflict erupting, shipping traffic averaged between 125 to 140 vessels daily crossing the strait.