Qatari company QatarEnergy halts LNG production following attacks

Qatar’s state-owned company QatarEnergy has suspended liquefied natural gas (LNG) production following attacks on its facilities, news agencies reported today. The company is a major supplier of the commodity to the European Union. Concerns are mounting on the market about disruptions to gas supplies as a result of the US-Israeli attack on Iran. The news prompted a further rise in wholesale gas prices on the European market.

Qatar is the world’s second-largest LNG exporter after the United States. After Russia launched its military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union began importing large volumes of liquefied gas from the US and Qatar to replace Russian energy supplies, which it is rejecting. LNG imports helped the European Union cope with disruptions to Russian gas supplies via pipelines. The bloc plans to end all gas imports from Russia by 2027.

QatarEnergy said it had suspended LNG production because of military attacks on facilities in Qatar. It did not specify when it intends to resume production. Wholesale gas prices on the European market rose by around 50 percent after the news, approaching 50 euros (over CZK 1,200) per megawatt-hour (MWh).

The price of the key gas futures contract for delivery next month was up around 47 percent shortly before 14:00 CET on the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), a virtual trading hub in the Netherlands, and stood close to 47 euros per MWh. It had previously risen as high as 48.70 euros per MWh, according to data from the Barchart website.