The head of the world's largest buyer of liquefied natural gas anticipates that traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will continue, further limiting LNG exports from the region. Prior to the outbreak of the Middle East war, the region accounted for about one-fifth of the world's LNG supply. Yukio Kani, chairman and global CEO of Japan's Jera Co. said in an interview on Friday, “We don't expect Qatar LNG to return to the market anytime soon.” He said that the current spot price of LNG is double that of the same period last year. “Market participants are worried about the upcoming winter.” Qatar was the world's second-largest supplier of LNG before the conflict broke out. The absence of Qatar's LNG supply pushed spot prices to the highest level since the end of 2022 last month. Tighter market supply is likely to intensify competition between Europe and Asia over alternative supply in places such as the US.

The head of the world's largest buyer of liquefied natural gas expects that traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will continue, further limiting LNG exports from the region. Prior to the outbreak of the Middle East war, the region accounted for about one-fifth of the world's LNG supply. Yukio Kani, chairman and global CEO of Japan's Jera Co. said in an interview on Friday, “We don't expect Qatar LNG to return to the market anytime soon.” He said that the current spot price of LNG is double that of the same period last year. “Market participants are worried about the upcoming winter.” Qatar was the world's second-largest supplier of LNG before the conflict broke out. The absence of Qatar's LNG supply pushed spot prices to the highest level since the end of 2022 last month. Tighter market supply is likely to intensify competition between Europe and Asia over alternative supply in places such as the US.