JAKARTA – QatarEnergy has again cancelled the additional delivery of five LNG cargoes to one of its largest customers in Europe, extending the force majeure status from early July to mid-August, Italian utility company Edison said on Monday.
Edison has a long-term contract with QatarEnergy for the supply of 6.4 billion cubic metres of LNG per year to Italy. The supply has been affected since April due to disruptions linked to the Iran war.
As reported by Reuters, with the latest notification, a total of 17 LNG cargoes scheduled for delivery to the Adriatic LNG terminal in northern Italy are now subject to force majeure.
The affected volume is estimated to reach around 2.2 billion cubic metres of gas.
Edison, a business unit of French energy group EDF, said it had sought to replace the lost volumes, primarily through LNG imports from the United States.
As of 25 March, the company had managed to replace nine of the 17 cargoes cancelled by QatarEnergy, equivalent to around 1 billion cubic metres of gas.
The company previously said first-quarter operating profit had fallen by nearly half due to the negative impact of the force majeure declared by QatarEnergy.
Edison also cut its annual performance outlook because of uncertainty surrounding the conflict in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, Edison stressed that the supply disruption is not expected to affect its end customers.
Italy is also expected to begin receiving LNG from the Golden Pass LNG facility in the United States from June.
The project is a joint venture between QatarEnergy and Exxon Mobil. (DK/LM)
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