The Iran war is upending the global LNG outlook as soaring prices, damage to major supplier Qatar’s export infrastructure and potential delays to new supply raise doubts about previously expected demand from price-sensitive Asian buyers, Reuters reports.

Before the war, analysts expected global liquefied natural gas supply to rise as much as 10pc this year to between 460 million and 484m metric tonnes as new capacity, mainly in the US and Qatar, came online, with demand forecast to grow in tandem.

Now, Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20pc of global LNG flows, and damage to Qatar’s liquefaction trains — sidelining 12.8m tonnes per year of LNG for three to five years — have prompted consultancies S&P Global Energy, ICIS, Kpler and Rystad Energy to cut global supply outlooks by as much as 35m tonnes.

That is equal to about 500 LNG cargoes, enough to meet over half of Japan’s annual imports or Bangladesh’s for five years.

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