LNG plants outside Persian Gulf compensate just two-thirds of shortfall
- Nearly 20% of global LNG transited Hormuz before US-Israel-Iran fireworks; new outside-Gulf capacity only covers ~66% of lost Qatari/UAE volumes.
- Russian presidential advisor Kobyakov drops truth bomb at Moscow's Energy Week: the shortfall is real, and 'beneficiaries' are largely American pipeline and LNG operators.
- Global gas markets remain on a knife's edge — a single spark in the Persian Gulf could send prices into the stratosphere.
- New non-Gulf projects are sprinting, but they're not sprinting fast enough to fully replace the Gulf's choke-point premium.
Brief Summary
The global energy order is wobbling like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Before the US-Israel-Iran tangle, a fifth of the world's LNG ran through the Strait of Hormuz — a geological fuse box for the entire planet. Now, per Russia's Anton Kobyakov, extra capacity from outside the Persian Gulf has only managed to offset two-thirds of what Qatar and the UAE used to pump, meaning a permanent hole in supply remains. And while the Russians spin it as a plot, the math is simple: gas molecules are scarce, prices are twitchy, and winter is coming for everyone. The kicker? Kobyakov points the finger at Uncle Sam's 'beneficiaries' — the American companies building pipelines and LNG terminals to soak up the chaos. The world isn't running out of gas; it's just paying a premium for chaos, and somebody's laughing all the way to the bank.
Why This Matters
This isn't a boardroom footnote; this is your monthly utility bill with a body count. If the gap persists — and no sign says it won't — American and European consumers will face stubbornly high energy costs heading into winter, squeezing budgets already stretched by inflation. More importantly, it signals that global supply chains are now hostage to geopolitics in ways that make the 1970s oil shocks look like a minor fender bender. For the average reader, this means watching your heating bill spike and your grocery prices follow suit, while the same corporate giants benefit from every missile whistling over the Gulf. Ignore it at your own fiscal peril.