Qatar's fifth LNG cargo clears Hormuz as shippers still run the strait dark
A fifth Qatari LNG cargo has cleared the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, signalling a slow reopening that still leaves gas markets short.
Another LNG carrier loaded with Qatari gas slipped through the Strait of Hormuz this week (week of 2026-06-08), bringing to five the number of Qatari cargoes that have cleared the chokepoint since the war began, Reuters reported on Tuesday (2026-06-09), citing vessel-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.5
Qatar moves nearly all of its LNG through Hormuz, and five cargoes is a trickle against normal flows. The count is the clearest sign yet that the waterway is reopening to gas traffic, but at a pace that still leaves the market short. Asian LNG, benchmarked off JKM, traded near $18.89, while the ICE Endex TTF front-month sat around €50.02 — levels that reflect a supply system still missing a large piece.5
The first Qatari cargo went through on Sunday (2026-05-17), when QatarEnergy shipped its first LNG vessel via the strait since fighting halted traffic.1
Confidence has returned unevenly. Days after that first transit, the QatarEnergy-chartered Mihzem, laden with 178,000 cubic metres of LNG, made an apparent U-turn while attempting to cross, according to Kpler data reported by Montel.1
The caution shows in how ships move. Dark transits, where vessels switch off their transponders, accounted for 57% of all crossings over the period and peaked at 65.2% in May, per the data Reuters cited. Owners are running the strait blind to avoid becoming targets.5
Crude has been working through a similar backlog. Three tankers holding a combined 6 million barrels of Gulf crude exited the strait with their tracking systems off, according to Kpler and LSEG data released on Monday (2026-05-18).2
The hole in supply is large. The EIA's May Short-Term Energy Outlook assessed that Gulf producers had collectively shut in 10.5 million barrels a day of production. Kpler's Sumit Ritolia reckoned their combined throughput would end April about 4.2 million b/d below February, a cut of nearly 15%.4,3
Qatari gas is harder to bring back than tankers are to reroute. Two of the 14 liquefaction units at Ras Laffan, the plant that usually supplies about 17% of the world's LNG, were hit by missiles early in the war, knocking out roughly 17% of the facility's capacity, equivalent to about 3% of global supply. Restarting it will take longer than reopening the strait.3
Prices have come off their war peaks without returning to normal. ICE Brent crude front-month traded near $93.19 on Tuesday (2026-06-09), down 0.31% on the day. As of mid-May, Brent was still 30% above its level on the eve of the war and 60% above what analysts had forecast in January for later this year.3
The read from the people watching the ships is wary. "There are too many unknowns," Matt Wright of Kpler said, and that caution will prolong the energy crisis even if the ceasefire holds and traffic normalises.3
For now, the signals to watch are simple. Whether the Qatari cargo count climbs past five in the coming weeks will show whether shippers trust the strait. A falling dark-transit share would say the same. And the timeline on Ras Laffan will determine how long the LNG market stays tight regardless of how freely vessels move through Hormuz.5,3