According to Reuters, Qatar halted its production of liquefied natural gas on Monday, as Iran continued to strike Gulf countries in retaliation for Israeli and U.S. strikes against it, prompting precautionary shutdowns of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East.
Qatari LNG production is equivalent to about 20% of global supply and plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand for the fuel.
As a wave of attacks in the Middle East stretched into a third day, they also resulted in the suspension of operations at Saudi Arabia’s biggest domestic oil refinery after a drone strike, most oil production in Iraqi Kurdistan and several Israeli gas fields, throttling exports to Egypt.
State-owned QatarEnergy, 82% of whose clients are Asian, was set to declare force majeure on its LNG shipments after Iranian drone attacks on facilities in the sprawling Ras Laffan complex. The complex hosts Qatar’s gas trains — massive processing units that supercool natural gas into liquid form for export by ship.
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