Hormuz Crisis Reaches the Gas Market: European Gas and Asian LNG Rise as Qatar Exports Are Disrupted

The US-Iran military confrontation and the slowing of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz spread to the global gas market this week. Europe's benchmark natural gas (the front-month Dutch TTF contract) rose about 3 percent in mid-July 2026 trading to near 50 euros per megawatt-hour, while Asia's JKM LNG benchmark climbed above 18.5 dollars per million BTU.

The main driver is the disruption to Qatar's LNG exports. Qatar, alongside Australia and the United States one of the world's largest LNG exporters, ships almost all of its cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of the world's LNG passes through the strait, and Europe sources roughly 12 to 14 percent of its LNG from Qatar. Qatar had already curbed part of its maritime activity after a projectile struck one of its LNG carriers, the Al Rekayat, on 7 July.

The relevance for Iran lies in that same chokepoint: the Strait of Hormuz, which also carries Iran's oil exports, is now throttling Persian Gulf energy flows, and the surge in global energy prices feeds through to Iran's economy and domestic markets.