LNG shutdown sinks Qatar stocks but Tadawul rebounds

• Qatar LNG production still halted
• Doha bourse lowest since June 2025
• Saudi market up as Aramco advances

Qatar’s stock index slid to a fresh eight-month low on Tuesday as the country’s production of liquefied natural gas, its main export and revenue source, remained halted following an Iranian drone strike.

Doha’s equity benchmark fell 0.7 percent to 10,510 points, its lowest level since June 2025. Its losses during the past four sessions total 6.7 percent.

Stock declines were less severe than on Sunday and Monday, although losers still outnumbered gainers – by 31 to 22. Qatar Islamic Bank and Commercial Bank of Qatar were among the most notable stocks to decline, each falling 1.8 percent.

Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat), which operates a shipping fleet of about 70 LNG carriers and is part-government owned, fell 1.7 percent to reach a 2026 low. The stock is down almost 8 percent during the past four sessions.

The stock slump follows Iran’s unprecedented response to US-Israeli attacks that began over the weekend and which killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

Iran has all but halted oil and LNG tanker transit in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies pass.

Tehran has also launched retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, targeting military and civil infrastructure in several countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel.

On Monday, state-owned QatarEnergy halted LNG production after a drone hit production facilities, while on Tuesday it also paused production of many downstream products including urea, polymers, methanol and aluminium.

Qatar, the world’s third-largest producer of LNG, also produces about 1.3 million barrels of oil per day in normal circumstances, with hydrocarbons providing about four-fifths of state revenue according to US government estimates.

Saudi Arabia’s stock index rose 0.7 percent to 10,566 points, rebounding from Monday’s two-month low as Saudi Aramco advanced for a third day.

Aramco, the world’s seventh-largest listed company, climbed 1.9 percent to an 11-month high as investors bet surging crude prices would translate into bigger profits for the state-run oil producer.

Brent crude was up 8.4 percent at $84 per barrel as of 14:23 GMT on Tuesday, surging to its highest level since July 2024. It is up about 17 percent, or $12 per barrel, this week.

Aramco has told some of its oil buyers to load cargoes from a Red Sea port, thereby avoiding the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.

Sabic was another important gainer, rising 4.2 percent to rebound from Monday’s two-month low as bargain hunters bought the loss-making company’s stock following a five-session losing streak.

Kuwait’s premier market index rose 0.9 percent, trimming its year-to-date losses to 4.4 percent in a broad-based rally.

Oman’s benchmark, which reached its highest level in at least 10 years last Thursday, fell 1.5 percent.

UAE stock exchanges will re-open on Wednesday. Regulators had ordered the country’s bourses to close on Monday and Tuesday.