By Kimberley Kao and Fabiana Negrin Ochoa

A strong cyclone has affected liquefied natural gas plants in Australia, potentially adding more pressure to a market already reeling from massive supply disruption caused by war in the Middle East.

Australia is one of the world's top three LNG exporters, behind Qatar, where strikes have knocked out about one-fifth of the world's LNG supplies.

"With Qatari LNG production hit by attacks and flows through the Strait of Hormuz constrained, the Australian outages significantly reduce flexibility for buyers, particularly in Asia, reinforcing a tight market backdrop and making it harder for prices to ease even if geopolitical tensions stabilize," said Ewa Manthey at ING.

The Australia arm of energy giant Chevron is working to restore production at the Gorgon and Wheatstone gas facilities on Western Australia's coast following outages likely caused by Tropical Cyclone Narelle, a spokesperson said.

The plants collectively produce about 6.5% of the world's liquefied natural gas and nearly half of Western Australia's domestic gas supply, according to Chevron.

"We will resume full production at both facilities once it is safe to do so," the spokesperson said.

A facility operated by Australian energy group Woodside was also offline due to the cyclone.

A spokesperson for Woodside said the weather event had interrupted production at the Karratha Gas Plant, an onshore processing facility for the North West Shelf Project. Production at its Macedon and Pluto facilities were unaffected.

"Production at the North West Shelf Project is expected to recommence after Woodside is able to mobilize its workforce to its offshore facilities," the person said.

The outages could spell added trouble for economies in Asia that depend on energy imports and are already struggling with prices surges caused by the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which has fractured the LNG supply chain in the Middle East.

Iranian strikes on Qatar have damaged the Ras Laffan facility, knocking out some 17% of its capacity for up to five years, and delayed the country's massive expansion plans.

Meanwhile, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries around a fifth of global LNG, has been paralyzed.

Asian power has a 20% dependence on Middle East LNG, Morgan Stanley Research shows.

LNG supply disruptions after force majeure from QatarEnergy are a critical issue for data centers and grids in Asia, MS said in a recent report, identifying India and Thailand as among the most exposed to spot LNG prices.

Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com and Fabiana Negrin Ochoa at fabiana.negrinochoa@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2026 06:34 ET (10:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.