A pulse survey of 30 LNG buyers shows 80% expect lasting procurement changes after the Strait of Hormuz disruption. Here’s what they’re planning.
Just months after a biennial survey of LNG buyers found the market prioritizing flexibility amid gradually easing supply constraints, geopolitical uncertainty escalated sharply. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz created what can only be described as a system-level event with cascading effects across global energy markets — and buyers are still working through what it means for how they procure LNG going forward.
A follow-on pulse survey of 30 LNG buyers across 14 countries, representing about 80 percent of the global LNG market, was conducted in April 2026 to understand exactly how buyers are responding. The results, presented across five key charts in the original research, reveal a market in the middle of a genuine strategic reset.
Most Buyers Expect the Change to Stick
Around 80 percent of respondents expect some change to their LNG procurement strategy as a result of the Hormuz disruption, and the split between temporary and permanent change is telling: roughly half of that group expects only an incremental shift, while the other half anticipates a genuinely structural change in strategy.
The sentiment varies sharply by region. Asian buyers overall expect a greater degree of change than European buyers do — in fact, 60 percent of European respondents reported expecting no change at all, compared with a global figure of just 21 percent. Southeast Asia showed the opposite pattern, with every single respondent expecting at least an incremental shift and 20 percent expecting a structural one.
As one respondent put it plainly: “There is a shift from cost minimization to prioritizing security of supply.” Several buyers noted that geopolitical conflict may simply become more frequent going forward, making some degree of supply chain disruption feel less like a one-off shock and more like something to plan around permanently.
Diversification Is by Far the Top Response
When asked what specific changes they’re planning over the next two to three years, geographic diversification of supply stood out as the dominant response, cited by 93 percent of all respondents — by far the most common answer of any option offered. All respondents in China and other Asian markets, and 80 percent of respondents in Europe, Japan, and Korea, say they plan to increase supplier and geographic diversification.
As one buyer summarized it: “Geographic diversification is inevitable to manage supply disruption.”
Other planned changes trail diversification by a wide margin but are still significant: 59 percent of buyers plan to seek greater contractual flexibility, 52 percent plan to increase portfolio optimization and trading activity, and another 52 percent plan to strengthen contractual protections. Smaller shares are planning to adjust pricing structures (34 percent), increase short-term and spot market exposure (34 percent), or increase long-term contract coverage (14 percent).
Force Majeure Clauses Are Getting a Hard Look
Just over half of all respondents — 52 percent — named strengthening contractual protections as a planned change, and when asked which specific contractual elements they’d prioritize, force majeure provisions topped the list by a wide margin, cited as the top priority by 46 percent of those who responded.
One buyer explained the thinking directly: “We will revisit the terms and conditions of triggers of force majeure.” Delivery terms and volume flexibility followed as the next most commonly cited priorities, with pricing clauses trailing behind.
Two-Thirds of Buyers Are Also Investing in Resilience
Changing procurement strategy is only half of the response. The survey also found that 66 percent of respondents say companies like theirs are investing directly in resilience measures — physical and operational hedges against future disruption. This varies notably by region: 100 percent of Southeast Asian respondents report their companies are investing in resilience, compared with just 20 percent in Japan and Korea.
The most commonly cited resilience investments are storage infrastructure (30 percent of responses), shipping capacity (19 percent), upstream equity stakes (17 percent), floating storage and regasification units (15 percent), regasification capacity (13 percent), and interconnectors (6 percent). The spread suggests buyers aren’t betting on a single fix — they’re building redundancy across several points in the supply chain simultaneously.
Confidence Is Real, But There’s a Clear Skills Gap
Changing strategy and investing in resilience both assume buyers have the internal capabilities to execute — and here the picture is more mixed. On average, buyers report feeling relatively confident about their trading capabilities and somewhat less confident about their risk management capabilities.
But confidence isn’t the same as sufficiency: only 28 percent of respondents globally say their trading capabilities are “fully sufficient” for the current level of volatility, and just 25 percent say the same about their risk management capabilities.
That leaves a meaningful gap. Most buyers describe their capabilities as only “partially sufficient” — workable, but not built for a market this unpredictable. For buyers serious about executing the diversification and contractual changes they’re planning, upskilling trading and risk management teams may end up being just as important as the strategic shifts themselves.
What This Means Going Forward
The Hormuz disruption didn’t just rattle markets for a news cycle — it appears to have permanently shifted how a majority of LNG buyers think about procurement. Geographic diversification, stronger force majeure protections, and direct investment in resilience infrastructure are becoming standard responses rather than one-off reactions.
But the survey’s clearest warning sign may be the capability gap: plans are firmly in place, yet only about a quarter of buyers feel their trading and risk management functions are truly ready for what today’s volatility demands.