doha, April 7 -- Two tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar appear to be attempting to exit the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, with the move being closely monitored as a successful transit would mark the first exports to buyers outside of the region since the war started. The Al Daayen and Rasheeda, which each loaded LNG from Qatar's export plant in late-February, have now slowed and pulled back slightly after earlier heading eastward towards the opening of the strait near Oman, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. It isn't immediately clear from the data at this stage if the tankers will abandon the journey. The Al Daayen is signalling China, the data shows, Qatar's largest LNG buyer. Still, destinations are not final and vessels may change their indicated port of call at any time. So far, no loaded LNG tanker have passed through Hormuz since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran in late February. The effective closure of the key waterway near Iran and the Arabian Peninsula has choked off energy supplies to global markets, disrupting about a fifth of the world's supply of LNG. A tanker, which appeared to not be carrying a shipment, passed through the strait over the weekend. Qatar has delivered two LNG shipments to Kuwait over the past few weeks, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Kpler. These supplies were likely loading from Qatar's storage tanks, and don't require traversing Hormuz. Tracking vessel movements around the Persian Gulf can be an inexact science because of the potential for electronic interference with ship signals and the intentional disablement of transponders by pilots sailing through risky zones. Seapeak manages Al Daayen, and Nakilat owns Rasheeda, according to ship-database Equasis. The potential pass through Hormuz may be a shot in the arm for Qatar, which supplied nearly a fifth of all LNG last year, even as the country's Ras Laffan export plant has been shut for over a month due to Iranian attacks. This could allow Qatar to send more shipments that are already loaded and waiting within the Persian Gulf, or offload fuel from storage. Iran has choked off transit through the waterway since US and Israeli strikes began, while allowing passage to its own ships or those it's approved. More than four-dozen empty Qatari liquefied natural gas tankers are idling across Asia, as the nation's export plant remains shut and the Strait of Hormuz largely closed because of the war in the Middle East. The tankers are gathered in several locations, including West India, off the coast of Sri Lanka, the northern entrance to the Strait of Malacca, and the waters east of Singapore, according to an analysis of tracking data from Bloomberg and Kpler. None of the tankers is carrying LNG, the data shows. The idled ships illustrate the scale of the disruption, which has sent shockwaves through the LNG industry and forced some nations to cut consumption....