State-owned firm QatarEnergy has extended the force majeure on LNG deliveries to the end of the year, leaving Europe and Asia without certain term supply heading into the winter, in a move that drove European natural gas prices to the highest level since the autumn of 2022.
Italy’s gas importer and energy provider Edison said it had received a notice from QatarEnergy confirming the extension of the force majeure on deliveries – in force since April 2026 – until the end of the year.
QatarEnergy has informed Edison that it would not be able to deliver three further LNG cargoes at the Adriatic LNG terminal in Italy, which extends the force majeure until the end of December 2026, the Italian company said.
The force majeure on Qatari LNG deliveries to the price-sensitive markets in South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, has also been extended until the end of the year, a source at Bangladesh’s Petrobangla told Reuters.
“We are trying to secure additional spot cargoes to bridge the supply gap, but at a significant cost, driving our import bill sharply higher and putting considerable pressure on our finances,” Petrobangla chairman Abdul Mannan told the publication.
Pakistan will have to pay in excess of $1 billion to secure LNG supply for the winter months, as spot prices soar amid massive disruptions to Qatari term supply. The price tag will be fueled by the spot LNG prices in Asia surging to four-year highs and the plans of the Pakistani government to import 10 LNG cargoes from the spot market, at double the price at which LNG is being imported from Qatar under long-term contracts.
LNG flows at the Strait of Hormuz have not recovered in any meaningful way, as oil exports from the Middle East have, hiking European and Asian prices to the highest level since 2022.
In Europe, the front-month price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, rose by 1.5% at 8:30 a.m. Amsterdam time on Wednesday.
At $108.51 (97.53 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh), the European gas price is now at its highest since the 2022 energy crisis, when Europe had to face the first winter without most of Russia’s pipeline gas.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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