India Topped Long-Term LNG Contracting in 2025 as Hormuz Blockade Tests Its Qatar Supply Lines
India contracted 8.4 MTPA of long-term LNG in 2025, topping all buyers, as conflict reshapes access to Qatari volumes that must transit the Strait of Hormuz.
India was the world's most active long-term LNG buyer in 2025, contracting 8.4 million tonnes per annum of supply across six companies, according to GIIGNL's 2026 annual report published July 20 (2026-07-20).7,8
IndianOil anchored the tally at 4.7 MTPA, with GAIL and GSPC each adding 1 MTPA, Torrent Power at 0.69 MTPA, and BPCL at 0.5 MTPA; HPCL's volume was undisclosed. Together, India's haul helped push total disclosed newly-contracted LNG volumes globally to 71.6 MTPA across 76 agreements, GIIGNL said, roughly 30% above the prior year's total.8
India bought aggressively on paper while importing less in practice. The International Gas Union's world LNG report, released July 19 (2026-07-19), showed Indian LNG imports fell by 1.5 million tonnes in 2025. China fell harder: imports dropped 8.9 million tonnes to 69.77 Mt, driven by mild early-year demand, rising domestic production, and ramped-up Russian pipeline supply.6
The contracting surge reflects a structural bet on future demand, not 2025 consumption conditions. India added its eighth LNG import terminal in 2025 and has set a target of nearly doubling natural gas's share of its energy mix to about 15% within a decade, GIIGNL's report noted. But securing volumes is one problem. Getting them to shore is another.8
A substantial portion of India's contracted LNG originates at Qatar's Ras Laffan terminal. Reaching Indian shores means crossing the Strait of Hormuz, a passage handling nearly 20% of global LNG flows, according to analysis published by databiztimes.com on March 26 (2026-03-26). Iran's blockade of the strait, following the outbreak of conflict, has severely disrupted that transit route. Damage to Qatar's liquefaction infrastructure has sidelined around 12.8 MTPA of capacity with recovery timelines extending up to five years, the same analysis noted, citing energy consultancy estimates that have collectively cut global LNG supply projections by as much as 35 million tonnes.1
The disruption showed up in specific detail in June. An LNG tanker chartered by India's Petronet, the Disha, crossed the strait on June 14 (2026-06-14) carrying a Qatari cargo loaded at Ras Laffan on March 1-2 (2026-03-01). Kpler and LSEG data showed the vessel had been held west of the strait for more than three months before managing passage. A separate cargo became the first to exit the strait for India after hostilities began, Oneindia reported on May 24 (2026-05-24).3,2
Asian LNG spot prices surged 143% at one point through early 2026, crossing $25/MMBtu, the March 26 (2026-03-26) databiztimes analysis noted. JKM spot on Monday (2026-07-27) was $22.00/MMBtu, down from that peak but with supply consultancy forecasts still pointing to a structurally tighter market.1
China is drawing similar conclusions about its own exposure. State importers including PetroChina and Sinopec are in active talks to lock in long-term LNG from exporters that do not rely on Hormuz transit, sources told oilprice.com on July 17 (2026-07-17). China sourced nearly 30% of its LNG from Qatar last year and is itself the top Qatari LNG customer — a dependency that makes the pivot both commercially urgent and logistically complicated.5
Wood Mackenzie forecast a second consecutive year of declining Asia Pacific LNG demand as conflict reshapes regional supply flows, in a report published July 14 (2026-07-14). Asia Pacific aggregate imports rose 3.6 mt to 168.7 mt in 2025, but Asian imports fell 9.2 mt to 108.7 mt, with the aggregate propped up by contributors outside Asia even as China, India, Thailand, and Pakistan all contracted, IGU data show.4,6
The pricing of non-Hormuz supply deals that PetroChina and Sinopec eventually conclude will indicate how the long-term contract market has quantified Persian Gulf transit risk. For India, the Disha's more than three months west of the strait before its June 14 (2026-06-14) crossing illustrates what Hormuz disruption means in practice for volumes already locked in on paper.5,3