Asia LNG Imports Drop Most Since 2022 as Iran War Upends Supply

By Stephen Stapczynski and Sing Yee Ong

Apr 1, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Asian liquefied natural gas imports fell the most in more than three years last month as the conflict in the Middle East choked supply and sent prices higher.

LNG deliveries to the region declined 8.6% in March from a year earlier to about 20.6 million tons, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That is the biggest drop since December 2022.

World LNG supply has been badly hampered by the war in Iran, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz cutting the world off from about a fifth of the total and Qatar shutting the world’s biggest plant following attacks by the Islamic Republic. Prices in Asia may jump 50% on the damage as competition for spot cargoes intensifies, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Imports to China and India fell the most in March from a year ago, with both nations seeing shipments decline by about a fifth in the period. Pakistan, which got almost all of its LNG from Qatar in 2025, saw deliveries slide by almost 70% from a year earlier. 

The region has been scrambling to seek alternative sources of energy because of the cut in LNG supply from the Middle East, which was further compounded by outages at Australian facilities following a cyclone last month. Countries including Bangladesh, India and Japan have flocked back to coal, while in Vietnam, Vingroup JSC asked the government to allow it to replace an LNG project with renewable energy.

Read More: Iran War’s Gas Supply Shock Pushes Top Consumers Back to Coal

Asian buyers were able to pull some shipments away from Europe, which needs more LNG to help refill storage sites after the loss of Russian pipeline gas supply. Western Europe’s LNG imports rose about 3.5% last month from a year earlier, compared with a 17% advance in February, ship-data shows.

Meanwhile, Chinese LNG importers have also been capitalizing on the surge in spot prices by reselling cargoes overseas to capture higher margins, while relying on pipeline gas and domestic production to meet demand at home. Re-exports from Chinese terminals climbed to more than 660,000 tons last month, more than double the volume from the same period last year and the highest level on record in Bloomberg ship-tracking data going back to 2017.

More News:

• Asian LNG prices fell to $19.3/mmbtu on optimism that the conflict in the Middle East may end soon, according to traders
• Oman LNG is offering an LNG cargo on a DES basis for May 12-24 delivery to ports in North, South and Southeast Asia
• Woodside Energy Group Ltd. said liquefied natural gas and domestic gas production has restarted at its North West Shelf facility in Australia after a disruption by Severe Cyclone Narelle late last week
• Japan’s grid coordinator will monitor and publish the nation’s power supply and demand outlook due to the war in the Middle East, according to a statement on its website on Wednesday

Drivers:

• European natural gas fell as traders weighed signals on whether the US and Iran could soon reach a deal to halt the monthlong war that has upended global energy flows
• China’s 30-day moving average for LNG imports on March 31 was 102k tons, 33% lower than a year ago, according to ship-tracking data
• European gas storage levels were ~28% full on March 30, compared with the five-year seasonal average of ~41%
• Europe’s 30-day moving average for LNG imports was 253k tons/day on March 31, 27% higher than the five-year seasonal average, according to ship-tracking data
• Estimated flows to all US export terminals were ~19.3 bcf/day on March 31, down 2.4% w/w: BNEF

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© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Updated: May 27, 2026 (Originally published April 1, 2026)

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This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.

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