Amid the Israel-Iran war, Qatar's Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi has warned that war in the Middle East will have devastating ramifications for the world economy as oil prices are likely to soar to $150 per barrel.
According to the FT report, Saad al-Kaabi said that even if the fighting ends immediately, it will take weeks to months for Qatar to return to its normal delivery cycle, as Qatar's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant was hit by Iranian drone attacks.
"Those who haven't yet invoked force majeure, we hope they will do so in the next few days, as long as this continues. All exporters to the Gulf region will have to invoke force majeure," Kaabi said. He added that if they don't, they will have to pay their legal dues at some point, and that's their choice.
Qatar, the world's second-largest LNG producer, halted production this week after an attack on its Ras Laffan facility, although only a small portion of its gas exports go to Europe.
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The energy minister warned that the continent would still face significant pressure, as Asian buyers could outbid European customers for limited supplies available in the market, and other Gulf producers were struggling to meet their contract commitments.
Middle East situation a 'major humanitarian emergency'
The UN refugee agency said on Friday that nearly 100,000 people have been displaced inside Lebanon and thousands of Syrian refugees there have fled across the border, calling the situation in the region a major humanitarian emergency.
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Israel has issued mass evacuation orders for parts of southern Lebanon and Beirut amid hostilities with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah following a US-Israeli airstrike against Iran on February 28.
"UNHCR has declared the escalating crisis in the Middle East a major humanitarian emergency, requiring immediate action across the region and in South-East Asia," Ayaki Ito, the UN refugee agency's director of emergencies and programme support, said at a press briefing in Geneva.