Cybersecurity
Saudi Dispute With Qatar Has 22-Year History Rooted in Gas
- Choice of LNG over pipelines set former ‘vassal’ apart in Gulf
- Natural gas wealth fueled irritants from Iran policy to TV
Saudi-Led Alliance Cuts Ties With Qatar
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Saudi Arabia’s isolation of Qatar has been brewing since 1995, and the dispute’s long past and likely lingering future are best explained by natural gas.
Not only was that the year when the father of the current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, toppled his own pro-Saudi father, it was also when the tiny desert peninsula was about to make its first shipment of liquid natural gas from the world’s largest reservoir. The offshore North Field, which provides virtually all of Qatar’s gas, is shared with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s hated rival.