Newsletters
QatarEnergy has reportedly extended force majeure notices on LNG supplies to buyers in Europe and Asia by another month, with shipment cancellations now stretching into the fall as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely restricted.
Qatar's state-run company notified Pakistani buyers this week that LNG shipment cancellations will continue through October, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The force majeure period for supplies to Bangladesh has also been extended beyond the end of September.
Italian energy company Edison, one of QatarEnergy’s customers, reported that its cancellations had been extended into early November. Two other sources familiar with the situation said additional European traders had also begun receiving similar notices.
The move comes as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely depressed, with only 10 vessels crossing the waterway on Wednesday, Kpler data shows.
QatarEnergy first halted LNG production and associated products on March 2 after attacks hit energy facilities in Qatar. On March 4, the state-owned company formally declared force majeure to affected LNG buyers, citing the production stoppage.
The company later disclosed that continued Iranian attacks on its Ras Laffan production hub removed 12.8 million metric tons per year of LNG capacity, equivalent to about 17% of Qatar's LNG exports, QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad al-Kaabi said at that time.
The company estimated that repairs to the damaged trains could take three to five years and that the lost capacity represented about $20 billion in annual revenue.
In the six months since the war began, Qatar has shipped only 18 LNG cargoes, compared with 509 during the same period a year earlier, representing a 96% collapse in LNG exports, according to Reuters. The plunge has cost Qatar about $24 billion in lost LNG export revenue, equivalent to roughly five months of the country's 2025 income.
Qatar is one of the world's most important LNG suppliers, with exports exceeding 112 billion cubic meters in 2025, making it the second-largest LNG exporter globally, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
About 93% of Qatar's LNG exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving the country without an alternative maritime route to global markets from its existing liquefaction facilities.
The prolonged disruption is adding pressure to European gas markets, which remain particularly exposed to developments in the Middle East as the largely closed waterway delays Qatari LNG shipments to Europe.
Front-month natural gas futures at the Dutch TTF hub rose nearly 2% to €69.4 per megawatt-hour on Friday. At the same time, stronger cooling demand during a summer heat wave is slowing the pace at which European countries replenish their gas inventories.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
