SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Shell expects a year-long outage at one of the LNG trains at Qatar’s Pearl GTL facility following damage sustained during missile attacks in March, according to the company’s latest update. The outage is feared to tighten global LNG supply in the short term.
The missile attacks on Pearl GTL Train 2, co-owned by Shell and QatarEnergy, at Ras Laffan Industrial City in March had resulted in disruption of operations at the world’s largest gas-to-liquids plant.
In an update provided during the company’s earnings call, Shell CFO Sinead Gorman said repairs are expected to take around one year. The cost of repairs is estimated at around $500 million, he added. Meanwhile, CEO Wael Sawan said that the clearing of debris has already been done and that the order for long-lead equipment has been placed.
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Despite short-term disruption, the company reaffirmed long-term LNG demand growth driven by energy security needs and data centre expansion. However, even partial output recovery is heavily dependent on access through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Shell, the global LNG demand could reach 600–800 million tonnes by 2050, mainly driven by its diversified portfolio of supply projects worldwide.
The Pearl GTL disruption underscores the need for diversified export routes and resilient downstream processing capacity across global markets, experts said.
