Qatar takes the market off-guard with delayed maintenance
- Spring maintenance at the giant Ras Laffan LNG complex (Qatargas and RasGas terminals) finally started on April 7 with one train going offline first and another one shortly thereafter.
- The timing was an unusual departure from the normal schedule. Spring maintenance at Ras Laffan usually occurs around February/March.
- Kayrros LNG Intelligence data shows this has happened every year since 2013.
- This year, however, no maintenance happened in February and March, leaving the market to wonder whether there would be any spring maintenance at all.
- Kayrros reported this before any other source, as it is usually the case for Qatari maintenance and outages.
- This year’s delay appears linked to Ramadan, which fell during the normal maintenance period. Ramadan occurs earlier each year. Qatar likely adjusted its maintenance schedule accordingly to accommodate workers.
- A major outage at the Bintulu liquefaction facility in Malaysia also added to the eventful month of April for the LNG market, already rattled by the impact of tariffs.
- A multiple-train unplanned outage occurred at the Bintulu liquefaction facility in Malaysia on April 9th.
- It had an immediate price impact with the JKM/TTF spread widening.
- The price impact was short-lived due to the bearish LNG market outlook at that time, due to tariffs and slow Chinese demand.
- The outage ended on April 27th.
- Kayrros LNG Intelligence data shows that spring maintenance at the Ras Laffan complex has happened in Feb/March every year since 2013.
- This year the maintenance did not occur until April. Qatargas doesn’t typically announce maintenance outages. This left the market uncertain as to whether there would be any maintenance this year.
- We believe the timing shift is linked to Ramadan occurring earlier each year,leading Qatar to schedule major maintenance after the period to better accommodate workers.
- An external source who previously worked at Qatargas confirmed that productivity during Ramadan is typically reduced due to the fasting hours, which can limit effective working hours each day.
In the news
- QatarEnergy in discussions with Japan for long-term LNG deal on future North Field production (Reuters).
- Record LNG re-exports from China (Bloomberg).
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Cheaper US LPG goes to India following US-China tariffs (Reuters).