Overview
- Power producers across Asia are raising coal output to plug LNG gaps, with India burning more, South Korea lifting coal caps, and Thailand preparing two idled units to restart.
- Governments are loosening controls to keep energy flowing, as seen in India pausing air-quality rules that even allow restaurants to burn coal during a gas shortfall.
- Qatar said Iranian attacks cut its LNG export capacity by 17% and it warned it may declare force majeure on some long-term supply contracts.
- Indonesia is channeling more coal to domestic users, a move that has tightened regional supply and pushed Asia’s Newcastle benchmark price up about 13%.
- Analysts say the crunch highlights weak gas storage and heavy import dependence across Asia and could steer policy toward renewables that are less exposed to global chokepoints.