Qatar has become a key supplier of gas to Britain over the past decade, as the decline of North Sea production makes the UK more reliant on imports. Shipments of liquefied natural gas from the Gulf state provided nearly 30 per cent of UK gas imports in recent years, second only to pipeline imports from Norway. Qatar supplies up to 90 per cent of Britain’s supplies of LNG. The South Hook LNG import terminal in Milford Haven, south Wales, which opened in 2008, is jointly owned by Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil. UKOOG, the British shale gas lobby group, said that Qatar’s diplomatic crisis was evidence for “why the UK needs to urgently get on with developing the extensive gas resource beneath our feet”. However, experts played down the likelihood of disruption to exports from Qatar, which is the world’s biggest exporter o f LNG. Japan, the world’s biggest buyer of LNG, said that it had been reassured that there was no conceivable impact on supplies.
Times 6th June 2017 read more »