Iranian strikes have disabled 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity, wiping out an estimated $20 billion in annual revenue and putting gas supplies to Europe and Asia at risk, QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi said on Thursday.
Kaabi said the attacks damaged two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids facilities. As a result, 12.8 million tonnes per year of LNG capacity will remain offline for three to five years.
He described the assault as unimaginable, saying he never expected Qatar and the wider region to come under attack from what he called a fellow Muslim nation during Ramadan.
The strikes came hours after Iran targeted Gulf oil and gas facilities in response to Israeli attacks on its own energy infrastructure.
Kaabi said state-owned QatarEnergy may need to invoke force majeure on long-term LNG supply contracts for as long as five years, affecting deliveries to Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China. He noted that a shorter-term force majeure had already been declared, but the duration will now depend on how long the disruption lasts.
The impact also extends to partner companies, including ExxonMobil, which holds a 34% stake in LNG train S4 and 30% in train S6.
Beyond LNG, Qatar’s condensate exports are expected to fall about 24%, LPG shipments by 13%, helium output by 14%, and naphtha and sulphur production by 6% each.
Kaabi said the damaged facilities cost around $26 billion to build. QatarEnergy had already declared force majeure on all LNG output after earlier attacks on its Ras Laffan hub, and he stressed that production cannot resume until hostilities stop.
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