Ships are now forced to circumvent Africa on a longer route due to disturbances in the Red Sea (Getty)

The Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Managing Director and CEO of Qatar Energy Company, Saad bin Sherida Al-Kaabi, said today, Monday, that shipping disturbances in the Red Sea will affect the company’s supplies of liquefied natural gas, and not its production, according to what Reuters reported.

Longer time

Al-Kaabi added - during the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Ras Laffan Petrochemical Complex project - “It will just take longer to send the shipments to their destinations. But it will not reach a point where we are forced to stop production... We are fine.”

Al-Kaabi added that forcing ships to move away from the Red Sea and circle around Africa is not ideal, because it increases the cost and duration of trips.

Qatar Energy, one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas exporters, said last January that it had stopped sending tankers through the Red Sea for security reasons.

Since last November, the Yemeni Houthi group has been attacking ships in the Red Sea that it says are Israeli or heading to Israel, expanding the scope of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which prompted the United States and Britain to attack Yemeni sites belonging to them, and the group’s targeting of ships of two nationalities has expanded. American and British.

“Whether you're talking about LNG, crude gas or LPG condensate, it's exactly the same for all of these products,” Al Kaabi said.

The Houthi attack on ships related to Israel began last November with the Galaxy Leaders ship (Reuters)

Additional cost

“This will add cost, it will add time, and it will also add restrictions on the actual deliveries,” Al-Kaabi continued.

Sailing from Qatar to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope route adds about 9 days to the 18-day journey.

Al-Kaabi pointed out that most of Qatar's energy production goes to Asia, but he expressed his hope that the Red Sea problem would be resolved with an end to the fighting in Gaza.

He said, "I think that when this stops, according to what we hear from the Houthis, we hope that there will be a ceasefire soon, so that the economic impact on the entire world will stop."

Source: Reuters