QatarEnergy, the world’s largest LNG producer, announced on March 4 that it had declared force majeure “to its affected buyers” after stopping LNG production at its Ras Laffan industrial complex on March 2 due to “military attacks.” However, in certain geopolitical circumstances, geographic regions or contracts, war or conflict may not qualify as a sufficient cause for a supplier to declare force majeure, according to legal sources.
“There is already industry precedent that in areas of active conflict, the parties to a contract allocate the risk of war to one party meaning that war, armed conflict, hostilities and related disruptions will all be excluded from events of force majeure and that those events will not excuse a party from performing its contractual obligations,” Bracewell’s Patricia Tiller told Energy Intelligence.
