Headlines

Natural gas touches almost every corner of the U.S. economy, fuelling power plants, homes, factories and the booming LNG export sector. But the supply needed to meet all those uses is coming from an ever-narrower slice of America's shale patch. This mismatch between a widening band of consumers and a shrinking supply base means the U.S. natural gas market is heading for a potential structural crunch that could trigger bouts of supply stress and price volatility. Higher gas prices, however, [Read more]

An oil tanker leased to state-owned QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian cruise missile on Wednesday in Qatari waters, the defence ministry said. Qatar was targeted by three cruise missiles coming from Iran, two were intercepted while the third hit the Aqua 1 fuel oil tanker, but caused no casualties. The vessel, located 17 nautical miles (31 km) north of Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial hub, the site of the world's largest gas plant, sustained damage above the waterline but no environmental [Read more]

The U.S. and Israeli war against Iran has changed the global market for liquefied natural gas (LNG), providing a boost to producers outside the Middle East that will likely last long after the current conflict ends. One of the major beneficiaries is Australia, which last year slipped to the third-largest exporter of the super-chilled fuel behind the United States and Qatar. But the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has shut off Qatar's LNG exports, meaning that it will likely lose [Read more]