Qatar Energy Company CEO, Saad Al-Kaabi, said on Monday that shipping disruptions in the Red Sea will affect the company’s supplies of liquefied natural gas and not its production.
“It will just take longer to send the shipments to their destinations,” Al-Kaabi said during the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Ras Laffan Petrochemical Complex project. “But it will not reach a point where we have to stop production because there is no ship. We are fine.”
Al-Kaabi added that ships being forced to move away from the Red Sea and circle around Africa is not ideal because it increases the cost and duration of trips.
Qatar Energy, one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, said in January that it had stopped sending tankers through the Red Sea for security reasons.
Since November, the Yemeni Houthi group has been attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The group says that the attacks come in support of the Palestinians in the war with Israel.
“Whether you are talking about LNG, crude oil or LPG condensate, it is exactly the same for all of these products,” Al Kaabi said.
He continued, “This will add cost, it will add time, and it will also add restrictions on the actual deliveries.”
Sailing from Qatar to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope route adds about nine days to the 18-day journey.
Al-Kaabi pointed out that most of Qatar’s energy production goes to Asia, but he expressed his hope that the Red Sea problem would be resolved with an end to the fighting in Gaza.
He added, “I think that when this stops, according to what we hear from the Houthis… we hope that there will be a ceasefire soon… so that the economic impact on the entire world will stop.”
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