Qatar could not have a better start to 2021, first scoring a major political goal by restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and ending its almost 4-year long embargo. Following a political breakthrough came an unexpected revenue bonanza which saw Doha happily riding the waves of spiking LNG prices in Asia. The combination of both developments – Qatar casting away its pariah state and probably playing a more nuanced role as it finds itself between Saudi Arabia, Iran and the still-skeptical UAE, as well as its low-cost LNG production becoming a staple diet of North East Asian LNG demand has elevated the Middle Eastern state into worldwide limelight. All this, however, also means that the manifold connections Qatar has been trying to build with Europe may start to languor. Graph 1. Qatari LNG Exports to Europe and Asia in 2017-2021 (million tons LNG per month). Source: Thomson Reuters. The […]