Global LNG Supply & Shipping Tracker: Qatar‘s ramp-up under spotlight again

Research evidence excerpt

Global LNG Supply & Shipping Tracker: Qatar‘s ramp-up under spotlight again

J P M O R G A N Global Markets Strategy

13 July 2026

Global LNG Supply & Shipping

Tracker

Qatar's ramp-up under spotlight again

Global Commodities Research

Otar Dgebuadze, CFA

(44-20) 3493-8246

otar.dgebuadze@jpmorgan.com

J.P. Morgan Securities plc

Last week marked the beginning of the most significant escalation in the Iran-US Aradhaya Makkar

aradhaya.makkar@jpmchase.com

conflict since the mid-June MOU and the noticeable increase in Hormuz transits J.P. Morgan India Private Limited

since Memorial Day. The escalation began with Iranian strikes on Qatar LNG and

Saudi oil tankers on July 7, while the vessels were transiting the Strait of Hormuz

through Omani waters with transponders off. According to our expert speaker, this

is a consequence of disagreement between the Iran military and civilian

government about the MOU and particularly the clause about the arrangements of

passage in the Strait of Hormuz (Has the ceasefire ceased? Update on the Middle

East Conflict with Alex Plitsas, 13 July 2026). Following the strikes, the US first

revoked the oil sanctions waiver and then resumed military action, which has since

developed into a two-way military escalation and raised questions about the

durability of the MOU.

Ahead of the latest escalation, Qatar had accelerated restart activity. It arranged for

a number of empty vessels to return to Ras Laffan for future loadings and also

increased actual loadings. Based on the latest available data, we estimate Qatar

loadings averaged up to 30% utilization, compared with an average of 16% in June.

However, Hormuz exits have slowed materially. We count only two exits to date

in July, with at least one of those being a UAE tanker rather than a Qatari vessel.