Edison: Qatar gas force majeure may be extended, but US LNG will fill the gap
The Italian importer Edison stated on Wednesday that Qatar may extend the force majeure period on gas supply?past mid-June. They also predicted that U.S. gas would be used to fill in the 'gap instead of Russian gas.
Nicola Monti, Edison's CEO and Fabio Dubini, its head of Gas Portfolio Management, said that the Italian group purchased seven cargoes from the United States following the cancellation of 10 by QatarEnergy in April to mid-June because of the Middle East War.
Edison has signed a long-term agreement with QatarEnergy for the delivery of 6.4 billion cubic metres of LNG each year. This is around 10% of Italy’s annual gas consumption. Last month, the utility, Italy's 2nd largest gas importer, received a notification from its Gulf Supplier that it would no longer deliver 10 cargoes, equal to 1.4 billion cubic metres of gas, from April to June. According to the CEO of QatarEnergy, attacks by Iran last month knocked out 17% of its LNG export capacity.
QatarEnergy was not immediately available outside of normal business hours.
Edison has confirmed that the deliveries to its final customers in Italy will not be affected, even though Dubini had said it would be reasonable to expect a prolongation of the interruption of QatarEnergy’s supply.
Monti was asked whether Europe should reconsider the planned ban on Russian LNG exports. This is in line with the comments made by Italian energy group Eni.
Monti said that the start-up of two U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants this year -- Venture Global’s Plaquemines, and Golden Pass -- which is owned in part by QatarEnergy & Exxon Mobil — was a good reason to be confident about supply. He said that other plants were also being built.
Monti stated that the market will return to structural balance in the next 18-months.
Monti stated that the LNG glut expected in 2027-2028 will likely shift to 2029- 2030 because of the temporary shortage of gas from Middle East. (Reporting and editing by Gianluca Segeraro, Rod Nickel).
(source: Reuters)
