JPCampbellBiz

Once you’ve decided you want a hard Brexit & a soft Irish land border that policy is leading you to one place bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northe…

The Utility Regulator has warned that gas and electricity prices will rise if the war in the Middle East continues for another month or two. bbc.in/3PiC0uq

Providing an update on the damage from the missile attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City H.E. Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi: The missile attacks reduced Qatar’s LNG export capacity by 17% and caused an estimated loss of $20 billion in annual revenue - Extensive damage to our production facilities will take up to five years to repair and will compel us to declare long-term force majeure QatarEnergy expects the damage to its Ras Laffan Industrial City caused by missile strikes, which occurred on Wednesday 18 March 2026, and in the early hours of Thursday 19 March 2026, to cost about $20 billion a year in lost revenue and to take up to five years to repair, impacting supply to markets in Europe and Asia. Providing an update on the damage to the facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City, His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said “I am relieved to confirm that no one was injured by these unjustified and senseless attacks, which weren’t just an attack on the State of Qatar but attacks on global energy security and stability. This was an attack on all of us who stand for development and human progress that is sustained by a fair, reliable, and secure access to energy.” The attacks damaged two liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing Trains 4 and 6 totaling 12.8 million tons per annum (MTPA) of production, representing approximately 17% of Qatar’s exports. Train 4 is a joint venture between QatarEnergy (66%) and ExxonMobil (34%), and Train 6 is a joint venture between QatarEnergy (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%). His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi said: “The damage sustained by the LNG facilities will take between three to five years to repair. The impact is on China, South Korea, Italy and Belgium. This means that we will be compelled to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts.” The attacks also targeted the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility, a production sharing agreement operated by Shell, that converts natural gas into high-quality cleaner burning drop-in fuels and produces base oils used to make premium engine oils and lubricants, and paraffins and waxes. “The damage caused to one of the two trains at Pearl GTL is being assessed and is expected to be offline for a minimum of one year” His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi added. It should be noted that there will be a loss of associated product production due to this outage as follows: · Condensates: 18.6 million barrels which is around 24% of Qatar’s exports · LPG: 1.281 MT which is around 13% of Qatar’s exports · Naphtha: 0.594 MT which is around 6% of Qatar’s exports · Sulfur: 0.18 MT which is around 6% of Qatar’s exports · Helium: 309.54 MCFA which is around 14% of Qatar’s exports His Excellency the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy paid tribute to the Qatari military and security forces and to the energy sector emergency response teams whose courage and extraordinary professionalism ensured the situation was contained quickly and safely. #Qatar

Europe’s summer gas refill will be much more difficult and expensive Europe’s gas utilities will find it much more difficult and expensive to refill storage this summer as a result of the war between the United States and Iran, raising prices for households, industrial users and power generators. Benchmark front-month Dutch TTF futures have doubled to more than €60 per megawatt-hour up from €31 before the war broke out, which will filter through to higher bills in the coming months. Iran’s extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz has already interrupted roughly one-fifth of the world’s supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) sourced from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Futures prices in Europe and Asia have surged as traders anticipate an increasingly prolonged conflict and closure of the Strait tightening supplies for importers this year. Prices have climbed even further in the last 24 hours after Israel attacked Iran’s giant South Pars gas field and Iran retaliated by attacking Qatar’s giant liquefaction facilities at Ras Laffan ...

This was a cool one! Got to sit down with @HarvardBiz for a lengthy Q&A on the Iran War and the ongoing, historic energy supply crisis: how it works, how bad it could get, and how decision makers should think about the risk. Check it out: hbr.org/2026/03/the-oi…

@GrahamBrownlow Although tbf NERI gave the same diagnosis a while ago: a massive gap between MNE & home companies productivity

Ahearne report is a useful corrective to those ignoring faultlines in the Irish economy. Source: RTE.ie search.app/sj9C1

Scandinavian risk management company creates 26 jobs at new Belfast base irishnews.com/news/business/…

More than 20 employers in Northern Ireland from a cinema chain to restaurants and a motor dealer have been named and shamed today for failing to pay the minimum wage. belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/more-…

The affected unit is the Air Separation Unit. It takes 3-4 years to rebuild this mega critical engineering beast. Hard engineering, hard facts. The world needs to learn how to be less reliant on LNG the hard way. And immediately. #oott

The UK has managed to combine the weakest economy with the most hawkish central bank. Bound to end well

What's happening to gas prices and how could it affect you? bbc.in/47UAmW5

Uncontrolled Escalation and the Gas War Global oil and gas prices have surged after Iran attacked Qatar’s liquefaction facilities in retaliation for Israel’s attack on its giant South Pars gas field, threatening to create a much longer disruption of oil and gas production. Once they have been launched, wars have their own internal dynamic and tend to escalate as the belligerents discard initial scruples and constraints and become increasingly desperate to strike a knockout blow. Oil and gas prices have steadily risen since the war broke out as traders have been forced to revise their early expectations for a relatively brief conflict and quick re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Traders increasingly anticipate a lengthy closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupting up to one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies for several more weeks or even months. Until now, however, there appeared to be an unspoken agreement to avoid destroying the oil and gas production sites around the Persian Gulf ...

Understaffing as well as jobs not being created and vacancies unfilled all features in that sector I think. National insurance and energy costs among other factors nibbling away. Once disposable incomes slump further it should get worse alas.

Ah. OK.

🛢️ The average price of 500 litres of home heating oil in #NorthernIreland this week is £593.03 👀 View this week’s average prices for 300, 500 and 900 litres in your area by using our home heating oil price checker tool ➡️ bit.ly/3Um4vYG

Actually it’s worse than I thought. I had been looking at unadjusted figures. Seasonal adjustment shows hospitality jobs down by around 2,000 over the year.

The shift in @bankofengland rate expectations from the just before the war, near the end of February, to today is 🤯

The whole @bankofengland summary is worth reading in full. Market is interpreting this is "hawkish". In other words pointing towards further hikes. They're now pricing in two rate rises this year. An extraordinary turnaround. Not long ago they were pricing in two rate CUTS

@JP_Biz @RyanMcAleerbiz From another angle. One probable AI impact (surge in demand for semiconductors) is the 12% q/q increase in Computer, Electronic, Electrical & Optical products (e.g. Seagate). Output in this sector rose by a whopping 27.5% y/y in Q4 2025.

On mortgage rates outlook - five-year swap rate now at its highest since January 2025, two-year swap at highest since March last year. (Both very influential on the pricing of fixed-rate mortgages).