The Qatar boycott: no end in sight
Diplomatic efforts to end the crisis have stalled, but there's no indication of imminent escalation
In June last year, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed an economic boycott on Qatar. They accused the Qataris of, among other things, supporting terrorism and working in cahoots with Iran. Since then, a ruthless war of words in the media has poisoned the atmosphere within the Gulf Cooperation Council. At the same time, Saudi Arabia has recently hosted more dissenting members of the ruling family in Qatar, suggesting that the coalition still wants to see regime change in Doha. Despite the bad feeling between the two sides in the dispute there have been some inconsistencies. For example, Qatar continues to supply natural gas to the UAE via the sub-sea Dolphin pi
Also in this section
19 February 2026
US LNG exporter Cheniere Energy has grown its business rapidly since exporting its first cargo a decade ago. But Chief Commercial Officer Anatol Feygin tells Petroleum Economist that, as in the past, the company’s future expansion plans are anchored by high levels of contracted offtake, supporting predictable returns on investment
19 February 2026
Growth in LNG supply will surpass the rise in demand in 2026 for the first time in years, according to Mike Fulwood, senior research fellow at the OIES, but lower prices are likely to encourage fuel switching and could create more demand on a permanent basis
19 February 2026
Awais Ali Butt, manager for sales and business development at Pakistan LNG Ltd, discusses LNG’s role in energy security across developing, price-sensitive economies, as well as examining trade-offs between buying strategies and the impact of lower prices and policy on import behaviour
19 February 2026
LNG’s technical maturity, availability and price, as well as regulation, have driven its rapid adoption as a marine fuel, yet its future in shipping will depend on transition policies and progress in cutting methane emissions and scaling bio- and synthetic LNG, according to Carlos Guerrero at Bureau Veritas
