Exclusive-Qatar holds talks with energy companies on risk of Israel-Iran conflict, sources say

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By Andrew Mills and Marwa Rashad

DOHA/LONDON (Reuters) -Qatar held crisis talks this week with energy majors after Israeli strikes on Iran’s huge gas field, which it shares with Qatar, an industry source and a diplomat in the region told Reuters.

Saad Al Kaabi, CEO of state-owned QatarEnergy and the Gulf Arab state’s energy minister urged companies to warn the U.S., British and European governments about the risks the conflict poses to gas exports from Qatar and the increasing threat to the global gas supply, they said.

An interruption to Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) operation could cut off around 20% of the global supply, which Doha exports from the world’s largest gas reservoir.

“QatarEnergy is making sure that foreign governments are fully aware of the implications and repercussions the situation and further escalation pose to gas production from Qatar,” said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kaabi also met this week in Doha with ambassadors representing countries whose companies are involved in QatarEnergy’s North Field expansion project, the diplomat said.

U.S. majors ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, Britain’s Shell, Italy’s Eni and France’s TotalEnergies all have stakes in the expansion, which is set to boost exports from Qatar by around 82% in the coming years.

So far, there have been no disruptions to QatarEnergy’s exports and cargo deliveries are on schedule.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills and Marwa RasahdEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Louise Heavens)