Pakistan receives seventh LNG cargo since April as Hormuz flows resume

By Staff Reporter

KARACHI: A Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker docked at Pakistan’s Port Qasim on Monday, the country’s seventh LNG delivery since April, as Islamabad moves to rebuild energy reserves following the crisis triggered by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year.

The vessel MRAIKH, a French-flagged LNG carrier, arrived at the port carrying 170,148 cubic metres of LNG from Ras Laffan, Qatar, under a long-term supply contract priced at 13.37 percent of Brent crude, according to Pakistani newspaper The News and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.

“The ship MRAIKH arrived at Port Qasim this morning carrying LNG from Ras Laffan, Qatar,” Asad Warsi, a spokesman for the Port Qasim Authority in Karachi, said in a statement.

Monday’s arrival brings to seven the number of LNG cargoes Pakistan has received since April 1. Of those, three have berthed at the Engro Elengy Terminal and three at the Pakistan GasPort Consortium Limited (PGPCL) import terminal. The MRAIKH was set to become the fourth vessel to dock at PGPCL, Warsi said.

The steady resumption of deliveries marks a sharp turnaround for Pakistan’s gas sector, which had entered 2026 facing the opposite problem — a surplus of contracted LNG that prompted Islamabad to divert dozens of cargoes to other markets.

That surplus evaporated quickly after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran in February. Tehran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass, sending energy prices higher and disrupting supply chains across the globe.

Qatar, one of the world’s largest LNG exporters, subsequently invoked force majeure on its energy shipments, causing deliveries to fall sharply and stoking fears of gas shortages in importing countries, including Pakistan.

The resumption of Qatari cargoes to Pakistan signals that supply chains through or around the strait are gradually normalising as regional tensions ease, though analysts caution that the pace and durability of the recovery will depend on the broader trajectory of the Middle East crisis.

Pakistan, a country of some 240 million people, relies heavily on imported LNG to fuel power plants and industry, making the security of Gulf supply routes a matter of acute strategic importance for Islamabad.