Energy · Global Supply

Qatar LNG Disruptions Spur Global Search for Alternative Energy Sources

Disruptions to Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, with 17% of its capacity offline, are driving a global push for alternative supply and accelerating development of new projects worldwide.

News AutomationCompiled 05:05 UTC · 1 min read

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Qatar’s LNG Loss Revives Projects From Argentina to Timor-Leste

By Alex Kimani - Sep 21, 2026, 7:00 PM CDT

Qatar’s LNG disruptions have intensified the hunt for alternative supply, with 17% of its export capacity offline and Gastech deals and prospective projects valued at around $60 billion.
Qatar faces $5.8 billion in repairs and delays to its massive LNG expansion, while Iran has reportedly lost roughly a third of its gas capacity following the conflict.
Buyers are rapidly diversifying supply, with major agreements involving U.S. LNG and Malaysia-Thailand gas alongside growing interest in new projects in Argentina, Timor-Leste and Tanzania.

Doha Qatar

With 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity disabled and Gulf shipments disrupted, buyers arrived at Gastech looking for gas from somewhere else. Organizers valued the agreements announced or advanced in Bangkok at an estimated $60 billion, including a 20-year U.S. LNG contract and a 35-year production agreement in the Gulf of Thailand, while proposed projects in Argentina, Timor-Leste and Tanzania drew interest from buyers and investors.

Energy prices pulled back sharply on Monday, with oil falling below $100 per barrel for the first time in two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he is open to a potential meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, scheduled to kick off on Tuesday. Trump is due to address the General Assembly on the opening day while his Iranian counterpart is set to speak on Wednesday.

Qatar’s North Field and Iran’s South Pars occupy the same 9,000-square-kilometer gas formation, which holds 25% of the world’s gas resources and supplies 10% of global production. Strikes damaged production and processing facilities on both sides, cutting Qatar’s LNG export capacity and reducing the gas available to Iran’s domestic market.

The March strikes damaged two LNG production units at Ras Laffan, cutting Qatar's export capacity by roughly 17%. WoodMac estimates that total repair costs for Qatari gas-processing capacity will hit ~$5.8 billion, with full repairs on damaged liquefaction trains expected to take up to three years. QatarEnergy recently pushed back the launch of the first production unit at the North Field East project to the first half of 2027, while force majeur e declarations on contracted supplies for certain buyers were extended into November 2026.

Qatar exported more than 80 million tonnes of LNG in 2025, with India receiving 11.9 mt, Taiwan 8.2 mt while Europe accounted for 11% of total supply. Restrictions on shipping and exports reduced Qatar’s hydrocarbon GDP by 25.8% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, pulling the overall economy down 7%.

" Qatar is managing US$5.8 billion in repairs and recovery timelines of up to twelve months while commissioning the largest LNG expansion programme in the world,” WoodMac’s Alexandre Araman said.

“ That timing matters because 54 mmtpa of uncontracted Qatari volumes will reach the market by 2035, and buyers are making long-term security decisions right now. What this conflict has done is turn a well-understood geographical concentration risk into an operational reality across the entire value chain, from wellhead to export terminal."

The situation is just as dire in Iran, with the country having lost roughly a third of its gas capacity following the conflict. Pre-existing hurdles such as international sanctions limiting access to foreign technology, specialized equipment, and skilled workers have compounded the post-war reconstruction burden for the South Pars field, leaving Tehran struggling to meet domestic demand and export goals.

At the Bangkok conference, China Gas Holdings unveiled a 20-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with U.S. exporter Venture Global LNG to supply 0.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG starting in 2030. The LNG will be sourced from Venture Global’s export projects in Louisiana, expanding China Gas’s geographical diversification away from traditional regional pipelines.

At the same conference, PETRONAS, PTTEP JDA and the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority formalized a 35-year production-sharing contract and gas sales agreement in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (MTJDA), extending it past the previous expiration date of April 20, 2029. The gas block spans approximately 3,494 square kilometers in the southern Gulf of Thailand and generates 300 million to 400 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day from fields like Cakerawala, Bumi, and Suriya, split equally between Malaysia and Thailand.

Speakers at the event also highlighted renewed interest in projects in Argentina, East Timor and Tanzania, with the Southeast Asian nation announcing plans for two new greenfield LNG plants. Timor-Leste Energy Minister Francisco da Costa Monteiro told Reuters that the country plans two greenfield LNG plants: a 5-million-tonne-a-year facility supplied by the long-delayed Greater Sunrise fields and a 1.5-million-tonne plant using remaining gas from Bayu-Undan.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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