QatarEnergy Extends LNG Supply Halt Through November as Ras Laffan Repairs Drag On

QatarEnergy has again extended its suspension of liquefied natural gas deliveries to Italian utility Edison, pushing the halt through early November. Five more cargoes, scheduled between late September and early November, will not be delivered. That brings the running total to 29 cancelled since force majeure was first declared in April.

No repair in sight. The suspension traces back to March, when Iranian strikes on Ras Laffan forced QatarEnergy to shut output at one of the world's largest LNG export facilities. Shell, a partner in QatarEnergy's Ras Laffan operations, said in July that full repair of the damaged production trains could slip into the first quarter of 2027.

Quatar supplies roughly 20 per cent of the global LNG market, according to The National. The outage has reached well beyond Italy. Tanker crossings through the Strait of Hormuz have been severely limited since March, disrupting the usual shipping routes from Ras Laffan.

Edison said it would monitor the situation and provide further updates. The Italian utility had already announced a previous extension on 28 July. Earlier in August, Iraq's SOMO and QatarEnergy were offering crude for loadings inside the Strait of Hormuz at record discounts, a measure of how deeply the conflict has distorted normal Gulf energy trade.