BRUSSELS — Europe’s insistence that it doesn’t face an energy supply crisis was blown apart Thursday when Qatar warned it would have to scrap contracts with Italy and Belgium following a massive Iranian attack.
QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters on Thursday it would have to cancel long-term liquefied natural gas supply contracts for up to five years after an Iranian ballistic missile knocked out a significant share of its production capacity in the Persian Gulf.
The state-owned company, which produces a fifth of the world’s LNG, said the damage — which would took three to five years to repair — could impact deliveries to Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China.
“These are long-term contracts that we have to declare force majeure,” al-Kaabi said.
