DOHA: Qatar Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Saad Al-Kaabi, has revealed that Iranian attacks have knocked out 17 percent of the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, a disruption that could last up to five years and cost $26 billion to repair .
In an interview with a foreign news agency, Al-Kaabi stated that the attacks damaged two of Qatar’s 14 LNG processing units, known as trains, as well as one of its two gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants . These facilities were responsible for producing approximately 12.8 million tons of LNG annually, which represents 17 percent of the nation’s export capacity .
The CEO warned that repairs could take three to five years and cost an estimated $26 billion, the original construction cost of the damaged units . The annual revenue loss from the affected facilities is estimated at around $20 billion .
As a result of the damage, Qatar Energy may be forced to invoke force majeure clauses and suspend long-term LNG supply contracts for up to five years. Al-Kaabi confirmed that buyers in Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China would be affected, noting that such suspension clauses are already part of the existing contracts .
“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be – Qatar and the region – in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,” Al-Kaabi said during the interview .
The CEO emphasized that production cannot resume until hostilities cease. “For production to restart, first we need hostilities to cease,” he stated .
The impact extends beyond LNG. According to Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s condensate exports are expected to fall by around 24 percent, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 13 percent, and helium by 14 percent . U.S. oil major ExxonMobil, a partner in the damaged facilities, holds significant stakes in the affected LNG trains .
