WARSAW (Dispatches) – 
Poland’s largest energy group Orlen has terminated one of its two long-term liquefied natural gas supply contracts with QatarEnergy, citing the Qatari exporter’s prolonged inability to deliver following damage to its production facilities and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. 
The cancellation marks the first known termination of a long-term QatarEnergy LNG contract since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran upended Persian Gulf energy flows, and it comes as QatarEnergy aggressively pivots toward U.S. supply deals to shore up its own global delivery obligations.
Orlen said it exercised its termination right on the 1 million-tonne-per-year contract, signed in 2009 and due to run through 2034, after a force majeure declared by QatarEnergy in March remained unresolved. 
The agreement, valued at roughly 570 million euros for 2026, was priced on an oil-linked formula that market participants estimate at around 16 percent of Brent crude. Orlen confirmed its second Qatari contract, covering up to 1 million tonnes annually under a gas-linked pricing formula, remains in force through 2034.
QatarEnergy declared force majeure after drone strikes damaged two of its 14 LNG trains at the Ras Laffan complex, removing about 17 percent of the country’s export capability and costing an estimated $20 billion a year in lost revenue. 
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—Qatar’s only viable export route for LNG—has been severely restricted, with Qatari exports this year falling to less than a third of normal levels. 
Orlen said alternative supplies from Norway and U.S. facilities, including Venture Global’s Plaquemines plant where it is a long-term customer, fully cover its gas requirements.
The termination underscores a broader realignment in global LNG trade. QatarEnergy, once the world’s most reliable supplier, is now racing to secure replacement volumes from the United States to meet its own customer commitments. 
In late October, the state-owned company signed a 20-year agreement to buy 3 million tonnes per year from Woodside Energy’s Louisiana LNG project, following an earlier deal with Cheniere Energy for up to 4 million tonnes annually through 2054. 
Wood Mackenzie estimates QatarEnergy will control 23.7 million tonnes per year of U.S. LNG supply by 2033, making it the largest buyer of American liquefied natural gas.
“Twenty-five years ago my White House colleagues and I worried the U.S. would become as dependent on Qatar for LNG as we were on OPEC for oil,” said Bob McNally, founder of Rapidan Energy Group. “Then came the shale revolution and Iran War, and now Qatar is buying from us”.