** Shares of Australian-listed coal miners Yancoal YAL.AX, Whitehaven WHC.AX and New Hope NHC.AX rise between 2.3% and 7.4%

** NHC and YAL are among the top gainers on both the energy sub-index .AXEJ, up 1%, and the benchmark ASX200 .AXJO, down 1.5%

** WHC is on track for a third consecutive session of gains, logging its biggest intraday rise since January 12

** Qatar halted LNG production on Monday as Iran's escalating strikes across the Gulf forced precautionary energy shutdowns, spurring fuel‑switching in power generation and pushing thermal coal prices higher

** Shaw and Partners' Senior Investment Adviser, Craig Sidney, says investors are now drawing the gas‑coal connection, noting thermal coal's surge to a 12‑month high, which is a boost for names such as WHC and YAL

** YTD, WHC is up 4.8%, broadly in line with the AXJO's 4% gain but well behind the stronger rallies in YAN, NHC and AXEJ, which have surged 30.7%, 26.6% and 21.3%, respectively

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk http://www.x.com/thatstanishk;))