00:00A deepening crisis in the Middle East and now fresh strikes on Qatar have sent natural
00:04gas prices soaring, and the aftershocks of this crisis will be felt for years to come.
00:09Rasul Afan, the complex which houses the world's largest liquefied natural gas plants, suffered
00:13extensive damage in the latest attack from Iran. It's a major blow to an energy supply
00:18chain which is being upended by the prolonged conflicts in the Persian Gulf.
00:22With virtually no spare capacity, no strategic reserves and no easy alternative, liquefied
00:27natural gas could be one of the most acute pain points. Some economies rely on the LNG
00:31transported through the Strait of Hormuz for more than a quarter of their total gas consumption.
00:36The trouble for the industry is that the longer the conflict goes on, gas buyers could start
00:40looking for workarounds, and that could include sourcing other alternatives. That's a major
00:45setback for a fuel promoted as an affordable and reliable bridge from dirty coal.
00:50Even if this conflict ends tomorrow, analysts are warning the disruption to LNG flows could
00:54last for months depending on the extent of the damage to infrastructure and how long it
00:59takes to get traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
01:01In the meantime, Europe and Asia risk competing for scarce supply, with the danger of a price
01:06war.
01:07The historic disruption we're seeing in the Persian Gulf benefits other major producers seen
01:11as a safer bet, particularly the United States, but also Australia. The question then
01:16becomes can they meet the demand? Russia is also emerging as a potential winner as it seeks
01:21to ramp up LNG exports to China to get around restrictions from the West.
01:26But for an industry that is built on a just-in-time supply chain, any disruption, and that's already
01:31too late for many.
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