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Qatar was supposed to be weeks away from turning the taps back on. Instead, the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas exporter is right back where it started in March: sidelined, ships turning around, and global energy markets pricing in chaos.
QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy giant, has paused efforts to resume LNG production after the Qatari-flagged tanker Al Rekayyat was struck by an unknown projectile on July 7-8, roughly 8 nautical miles off the Omani coast, shortly after leaving the Strait of Hormuz. The hit landed on the vessel’s port side and sparked a fire, raising immediate safety concerns and effectively torpedoing a restart timeline that Qatar’s Prime Minister had publicly laid out just two weeks earlier.
A restart that lasted about as long as a group chat promise
On June 24, Qatar’s Prime Minister signaled that LNG production could resume “within a few weeks.” That optimism came after months of forced silence. QatarEnergy had ceased all LNG output on March 2 following Iranian drone strikes, declaring force majeure on its shipments.
The March shutdown alone was a seismic event for energy markets. Qatar supplies approximately 20% of the world’s LNG exports, and every single cargo has to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a roughly 21-mile-wide chokepoint. When Qatar goes offline, the ripple effects are immediate and global.
In the immediate aftermath of the July attack, several other tankers carrying Qatari LNG reportedly turned back rather than risk the strait. Oil and gas prices spiked sharply, with Brent crude seeing a notable jump as traders recalculated supply risk.
The Strait of Hormuz problem isn’t going away
Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply and about 20% of LNG exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily. There is no realistic alternative route for Qatari LNG cargoes.
Iranian drone strikes in late February forced the initial March shutdown. The July attack shattered the fragile confidence that had followed a brief period of relative calm. The identity of the attacker remains undetermined. The projectile that hit the Al Rekayyat has not been publicly attributed to any state or non-state actor.
Qatar’s production has now been offline for over four months, with no clear timeline for resumption.
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