Speaking of Qatar.
From OilPrice, March 2:
Iranian drone strikes forced QatarEnergy to halt production at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed, effectively taking one-fifth of global LNG export capacity offline in a single geopolitical event. European gas prices jumped over 50%, Brent spiked, and shipping through Hormuz stalled. The outage embeds a deeper geopolitical premium into LNG markets, heightens competition for cargoes, and may accelerate diversification. It’s not hyperbole to call what transpired today in Qatar a seismic event for global energy markets. On March 2, QatarEnergy — the state-owned energy giant responsible for all of the country’s liquefied natural gas exports — announced a complete halt to LNG production after Iranian drone strikes hit facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City. And the effects of the shutdown will go well beyond the short term.
These aren’t minor processing units.
These are the heart of Qatar’s LNG infrastructure, and their shutdown effectively removes roughly 20% of the world’s LNG export capacity from the market in one hit.
This is a supply disruption at a scale rarely seen outside of war, siege, or widespread industrial disaster. And it’s happening not because of maintenance or economic shifts, but because of geopolitical conflict. The consequences and potential knock-on effects are massive.
Why Qatar Matters
Qatar isn’t just any producer. It is the producer that underpinned much of global gas flows outside Russia. In 2025, QatarEnergy shipped nearly 81 million metric tons of LNG. These volumes helped balance markets, especially in Asia and Europe. More than 80% of Qatar’s LNG goes to Asian markets, including China, Japan, India, and South Korea, with Europe also a significant buyer under long-term contracts.
Nearly all of that infrastructure sits at Ras Laffan, the world’s largest LNG export complex. Ras Laffan was built to process gas from the massive North Field that is shared with Iran. Since the early 2010s, Qatar has dominated global LNG in a way that today’s U.S. or Australian supply can’t match in single-source volume, and the world has priced and planned accordingly.
That’s why this is a real supply shock. The market hasn’t just lost a marginal source. It’s lost a foundational pillar of the LNG trade....
....MUCH MORE
It appears Iran's strategy, knowing they can't sway the Israeli or American intentions by direct force, is to leverage their war-making ability into pressure from America's allies to halt the financial pain.
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