Iran war strands Qatari gas, lifts US sales, drains Europe's stocks
QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities, Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, March 2, 2026. (Reuters Photo)


Six months into the U.S.-Iran war, Qatar is among the conflict's biggest economic casualties, with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports slashed by 96%, data shows.

Saudi ⁠Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq and Kuwait have seen their oil exports hit, but by nowhere near as much.

Qatar has lost $24 billion in gas sales, which is about five months’ worth of income for the country based on 2025 data, according to calculations reported by Reuters

While neighboring Gulf exporters have managed to sneak oil secretly out of the Strait of Hormuz, Qatar has exported just 18 LNG cargoes, ⁠down from 509 in the same period last year, according to data intelligence firm ICIS. Two Qatari tankers have been attacked.

Before the ⁠war, Qatar supplied about one-fifth of the world’s daily LNG. Exports from the U.S. have offset some of that lost supply.

Still, European gas ⁠storage has fallen to a historic low for the time of year, exposing the continent to possible gas price spikes in ⁠the event of a cold winter this year.