US, Australia can do little to replace lost Qatari LNG cargoes

Companies in the United States and Australia, two of the top global liquefied natural gas producers, have little spare capacity to offset lost supply after Qatar halted production and declared force majeure on shipments due to the conflict in the Middle East, according to Reuters calculations and industry analysts.

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Qatar supplies around 20 percent of the world’s LNG but stopped production this week because it is unable to send tankers full of the super-chilled gas through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has said it would fire on any vessel that attempts to sail through the strait, and a vessel was damaged by a projectile on Wednesday as it sailed toward the shipping chokepoint at the entrance to the Middle East Gulf.