Energy Markets Respond to Middle East Disruption
Yesterday saw significant increases across the energy markets, with gas prices rising by approximately 15 percent and electricity increasing by around 10 percent.
The sharp movement follows the attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial hub, which has sent global gas prices soaring. The damage to Qatar’s energy infrastructure over the past 48 hours is expected to take between three and five years to fully repair. This represents a loss of around 17 percent of global LNG supply for that period. Production at Ras Laffan has been shut down since early March, shortly after the conflict began. Markets had initially anticipated a short disruption, with a controlled restart restoring supply to pre‑conflict levels by mid‑2026. That scenario now appears highly unlikely.
In response, Israel has been targeting Iranian energy infrastructure in an effort to limit Iran’s ability to supply oil to Asian markets. Analysts warn that these latest developments mark a significant escalation in the conflict and that supply disruption could last far longer than previously expected.
Although the UK receives the majority of its gas from Norway and the United States, the global impact remains substantial. In 2024, Norway accounted for three quarters of UK gas imports and the US for 17 percent. LNG from Qatar represented just under 2 percent. Despite this small share, the loss of Qatari LNG will still affect the UK because the reduction in global supply cannot be quickly replaced, pushing LNG prices higher across all markets.
Other market drivers include:
• Temperatures are expected to remain warmer for the next few days before returning to seasonal norms next week. Windy conditions are set to continue.
• No new unplanned outages have been reported from Norwegian supply assets today. However, ongoing outages are still reducing output.
• EU gas storage levels were approximately 29 percent full as of 19 March.
Electric 3-Month Market Price
Gas 3-Month Market Price
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