QatarEnergy has notified one of its biggest European customers that it will cancel five additional LNG cargoes, extending force majeure from early July until mid-August, Italian utility Edison said on Monday.
Edison holds a long-term contract with QatarEnergy for the supply of 6.4 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas per year to Italy which has been impacted since April by disruptions linked to the Iran war.
Taking into account Monday's notification, a total of 17 LNG cargoes scheduled for delivery to Adriatic LNG terminal in northern Italy are subject to force majeure, representing a volume of approximately 2.2 billion cubic meters of gas (bcm), Edison said.
The utility, a unit of French energy group EDF, has been working on replacing the volumes, mainly via LNG coming from the United States, it said in April.
As of March 25, it replaced nine out of 17 cargoes cancelled by QatarEnergy, representing a volume of around 1 bcm of gas, it said.
Edison first-quarter operating profit halved mainly due to the negative effect of the force majeure declared by QatarEnergy. The group also trimmed its full-year guidance as a consequence of the uncertainty over the conflict in the Middle East.
The Italian company confirmed on Monday it did not anticipate any impact on its end customers.
Italy will likely begin receiving LNG from the Golden Pass LNG facility in the United States, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and Exxon Mobil, from June, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in April.
(Reuters - Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Cristina Carlevaro and Cynthia Osterman)