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Thursday, March 14, 2024

Qatar’s friendly suit: Promises to provide the UAE with its share of LNG

Qatar has compensated the United Arab Emirates with additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, in the wake of a major power outage on the pipeline gas that supplies LNG to the UAE from Qatar according to an anonymous source to Reuter’s news agency.

News Desk |

Qatar’s Generous Compensation to the UAE

Dolphin, a major connecting gas pipeline, supplies the UAE with 2 billion cubic feet of LNG per day from the North field of Qatar. A private company, Dolphin Energy Limited, is the primary owner of the project that also belongs to the UAE’s Mubadala with a share of 51 percent and to Occidental with a 24.5 percent share.

Due to a major power failure on the Dolphin pipeline in Qatar’s territory in April, all the facilities had to be shut down for several days. The outage subsequently curtailed the gas supply to the UAE on a significant level, according to an anonymous source, quoted by Reuters.

Qatar Airways, one of the biggest regional carriers, was forced to take long routes after it was banned from using Saudi, UAE and Egyptian airspace.

Through joint efforts of the Qatar petroleum, a state-owned energy giant and Dolphin Energy Limited, the repair work had culminated. In addition to repair assistance, Qatar petroleum also helped in sending additional LNG supplies to the UAE to compensate for its loss.

Qatar, the largest exporter of LNG to the world, despite being blockaded by the Gulf allies especially, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has kept its gas pipelines opened since the blockade in June 2017, that otherwise could have lead to a disrupting gas system in the UAE.

Read more: Saudi-UAE-Qatar crisis: Will the US’ mediation bear fruit?

The Blockade Continues..

In a series of drastic and unexpected events in 2017, Qatar had been put under an economic and political estrangement by its neighbours in the Gulf including, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt for its alleged support to terrorism; a claim denied by Qatar repeatedly.

Following the boycott and blockade, Qatar had been left stranded and isolated in the region that significantly impacted its economic stability. However, instead of reciprocating, Qatar followed a friendly suit and pledged to provide the UAE with its share of LNG. Then-chief executive of state-run Qatar Petroleum (QP), Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, in 2017 stated that Qatar would not cut gas supplies to the UAE despite the dispute between the two nations.

The outage subsequently curtailed the gas supply to the UAE on a significant level, according to an anonymous source, quoted by Reuters.

Furthermore, talking about the options Qatar had after the blockade in 2017, al-Kaabi added, “But if we cut the gas, it does great harm to the UAE and the people of the UAE, who are considered like brothers … we decided not to cut the gas now,”, in an interview given to Al-Jazeera in 2017.

Read more: Saudi-UAE promote tribes against Qatari Emir

Contrary to Qatar’s response to the blockade, the Gulf allies have been brutal in their boycott strategies towards Qatar. The bloc of nations cut off sea and air links and ordered Qatari nationals to leave their countries within 14 days. Qatar Airways, one of the biggest regional carriers, was forced to take long routes after it was banned from using Saudi, UAE and Egyptian airspace.

However, the air, sea and land limitations forced by its three Gulf neighbors have not so far affected sea routes for Qatari LNG vessels, which have easy access to Strait of Hormuz. Qatar’s approximately 80 million tones of annual LNG supplies are shipped via tankers, internationally, including Japan, South Korea and India, as well as to several European countries.