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57 min ago 2 min read
QatarEnergy has extended its force majeure notice on liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to Europe amid the ongoing Middle East crisis.
Italian energy company Edison said it has received a further extension of a force majeure notice from QatarEnergy covering an additional five LNG cargoes.
The cargoes were scheduled for delivery to the Adriatic LNG terminal in Italy between July and mid-August.
With the extended force majeure, a total of 17 cargoes – around 2.2 billion cubic metres of gas – have been impacted.
Edison said it is working to secure alternative supplies and, to date, has sourced one billion cubic metres of product from other providers.
QatarEnergy has a long-term agreement to supply Edison with 6.4 billion cubic metres of gas annually to Italy; however, the most recent cargoes from Qatar were delivered at the end of March 2026.
QatarEnergy initially declared force majeure to its affected buyers shortly after the conflict began, on 4 March. A week later, oil and gas major Shell declared force majeure on its LNG supply contracts for cargoes sourced from QatarEnergy.
Then on 19 March, it said damage from three attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City could result in about $20bn a year in lost revenue and take up to five years to repair, impacting supply to markets in Europe and Asia.
The attacks damaged Trains 4 and 6, totalling 12.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of production, representing approximately 17% of Qatar’s exports.
Train 4 is a joint venture between QatarEnergy (66%) and ExxonMobil (34%), and Train 6 is a joint venture between QatarEnergy (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%).
