Qatar’s Energy Minister and CEO of QatarEnergy Saad Sherida al-Kaabi speaks during a press conference in Doha on June 22, 2026.
Karim Jaafar | Afp | Getty Images
War damage to energy facilities in Qatar, one of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas producers, signals that disruptions to the market may continue for months, even with the Strait of Hormuz open.
Edison SpA, the Italian electric utility unit under French group EDF, said QatarEnergy extended a force majeure notice, withholding four additional LNG cargoes scheduled for Italy’s Adriatic LNG terminal until early September.
The latest extension brings the total cargoes affected over the delivery period from April to early September to 21, equivalent to about 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas, Edison said in a statement Tuesday.
QatarEnergy declared force majeure on its LNG output in March, when Iran launched a series of attacks at Gulf oil and gas facilities in response to strikes from the U.S. and Israel.
Iranian missile attacks damaged two LNG-producing trains at Ras Laffan, the world’s largest LNG export facility, in March, curtailing production by 12.8 million tons a year, or about 17% of Qatar’s LNG exports.
The fallout from the months-long hostilities has disrupted QatarEnergy’s contractual natural gas supply of 6.4 billion cubic meters annually to Italy, under a 25-year contract with Edison. Edison said it has replaced 14 of the 21 cargoes with alternative supply and doesn’t expect the shortfall to affect its end customers.
The state-owned Qatari giant has estimated the Ras Laffan damage would cost $20 billion a year in lost revenue and take up to five years to repair. The company did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Market participants cautioned that natural gas prices could remain above pre-war levels even though the tankers carrying LNG and oil, previously stalled around the Persian Gulf, have slowly resumed movement under a 60-day ceasefire agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran.
“Continued uncertainty surrounding negotiations throughout the 60-day implementation period should preserve some residual risk premium,” said Laura Page, an analyst at Kpler. Stronger Chinese LNG demand, active Thai buying, and South Korean nuclear outages will keep prompt fundamentals relatively tight ahead of the peak summer season, she said.
August future prices for JKM, the benchmark price reflecting LNG delivered to Northeast Asia, tracked by S&P Global, remained at $15.521 per million British thermal units on June 24, compared with the prewar level of $10.697 on Feb. 27.
Reflecting lingering risks in the global energy flows, at least two QatarEnergy-linked LNG carriers reversed course near the Strait of Hormuz last week, according to Kpler, after Iranian forces warned against unauthorized shipping corridors and struck two vessels transiting Omani waters.
