Qatar Energy LNG Production Halt 2026

Situation

Qatar Energy halted liquefied natural gas production on March 2, 2026, affecting output at its Golden Pass joint venture (70% QatarEnergy, 30% ExxonMobil) and urea plant operations. This impacts Qatar's status as the world's third-largest LNG exporter.

Key Evidence

• Reported event: Qatar has fully shut its liquefied natural gas production because of the war, cutting 20% of the world's LNG supplies. 4 sources
• Reported event: Taiwan received one-third of its liquefied natural gas from Qatar. 2 sources
• Reported event: ExxonMobil owns 34% stake in one damaged Qatar gas processing unit and 30% stake in another damaged unit. 1 source
• Reported event: Shell owns 30 percent of the liquefied natural gas production facility in Ras Laffan, Qatar with annual capacity of 7.8 million tonnes. 1 source
• Reported event: Shell owns 100 percent of the Pearl gas-to-liquid facility in Ras Laffan, Qatar with capacity of 1.6 billion cubic feet per day. 1 source

What Could Change

Developments that could shift our assessment — sources are currently split on these possibilities.

• If damage occurs to qatar's lng facilities, the production outage will extend beyond may 2026, potentially keeping one-fifth of global lng supply offline.
• Qatar would abandon its plan to increase lng production by 50% by the end of the decade if lng plants were severely damaged.