Arabic version: اضطرابات الخليج تفتح المجال أمام صادرات الطاقة الأميركية
According to Al Jazeera, disruptions to Gulf energy supplies are creating opportunities for US oil and gas producers as customers seek alternative cargoes. QatarEnergy told Italian customer Edison that force majeure on liquefied natural gas deliveries would continue until early November, cancelling five additional cargoes and bringing the total to 29, equivalent to about 3.8 billion cubic metres of gas.
Edison’s contract with Qatar has operated since 2009 and normally supplies roughly a tenth of Italy’s annual consumption. The company has continued serving customers by finding replacement cargoes, including from the United States. The article said six months of war had significantly affected Qatar’s LNG exports, while Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also experienced substantial declines in oil exports.
The report contrasts the longstanding US-Gulf arrangement, under which Washington protected the region and sea lanes while Gulf producers supplied energy and settled sales in dollars, with a new period of competition. It said US energy companies are gaining customers and commercially supportive prices when insecurity limits Gulf deliveries. President Donald Trump described a proposed 100-year concession covering 17 Venezuelan oil fields and 65 billion barrels as the “biggest oil deal in history”.
Price remains central to the outlook. A Dallas Federal Reserve survey found US companies needed an average oil price of about $43 a barrel to operate existing wells and $66 to drill new ones profitably. The two main Permian basins were at roughly $61 to $62. The article also noted that only an estimated 3.5 million to 5.5 million barrels a day can bypass the Strait of Hormuz through Saudi and Emirati pipelines, leaving much Gulf supply exposed to a single passage.
The article argues that reliability, rather than reserves alone, is becoming increasingly important to market power. It said each delayed tanker and each Qatari LNG cargo replaced by US supply could reinforce longer-term commercial relationships with Atlantic producers.
