While Asia receives the overwhelming majority of Qatari LNG, Europe is feeling the effect of the Hormuz crisis as acutely as Asia as the global market tightens, and the Asian LNG price premium over European prices soars, re-directing the available spot supply to the Asian importers. However, the repercussions of a supply squeeze in Asia are huge for Europe, too, as Europe currently loses the competition with Asia for alternative spot supply as the Asian premiums over European prices soar and arbitrage is giving the strongest signal for traders to send LNG cargoes to Asia since the end of 2022. The Asia-Europe race is only set to intensify in the coming weeks, and with the U.S. already exporting LNG to capacity even before the Middle East war, there isn’t a single supply source to make up for a loss of 20% of global supply until the Strait of Hormuz reopens to tanker traffic.
Author: Tsvetana Paraskova
Published at: 2026-03-04 23:00:00
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