That makes nine consecutive months on a single supplier, and 34 consecutive Qatari cargoes. Kuwait's import book always thins over winter and short Qatari-only runs are normal in the data, but the previous longest was four months, back in 2018 and 2019. This one has now run more than twice that length and has absorbed the whole summer procurement season, the period when KPC has historically gone to the spot market to cover peak air-conditioning load.
The temptation is to read it as a consequence of the Gulf crisis. The dates do not support that:
Operation Epic Fury began on 28 February 2026 and Iran closed the strait to foreign shipping within days, the IRGC confirming on 2 March that it was shut to unfriendly nations. Kuwait had already been sole-sourcing for four months by then. The strait has since been reopened and closed again twice, in April and on 12 July, and no third-party seller has come back to Al Zour through any of it. What the conflict appears to have done is lock the pattern in rather than create it.
Volumes are a separate matter. Kuwait took 3.86 million tons over the same window last year from five source countries, against 2.17 Mt this year, with the shortfall concentrated in February to May and again in July. June was the exception, and Qatar covered it alone with 0.83 Mt, the heaviest month of Qatari deliveries into Al Zour since Kuwaiti imports began in 2017. (July 24, 2026, Source: https://lngjournal.com/index.php/latest-news-mainmenu-47/item/116878-kuwait-s-retreat-to-qatar-began-before-the-war)KUWAIT - LNG - SUPPLIES - IMPORTS - EXPORTS