Oilprice.com

It’s not hyperbole to call what transpired today in Qatar a seismic event for global energy markets. On March 2, QatarEnergy — the state-owned energy giant responsible for all of the country’s liquefied natural gas exports — announced a complete halt to LNG production after Iranian drone strikes hit facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City. And the effects of the shutdown will go well beyond the short term.

These aren’t minor processing units.

These are the heart of Qatar’s LNG infrastructure, and their shutdown effectively removes roughly 20% of the world’s LNG export capacity from the market in one hit.

This is a supply disruption at a scale rarely seen outside of war, siege, or widespread industrial disaster. And it’s happening not because of maintenance or economic shifts, but because of geopolitical conflict. The consequences and potential knock-on effects are massive.

...

The immediate market response to the shutdown notice was brutal. It was also predictable. European wholesale gas prices surged more than 50%, the largest single-day move since the war-era volatility of 2022. Futures everywhere ripped higher, reflecting an acute squeeze on available tonnage as buyers suddenly find themselves in direct competition for replacement cargoes.

...

Europe is especially vulnerable. Gas inventories heading into the shoulder season were below the levels that had lent confidence to market participants. Buying power from Asia, where utilities and state buyers are not as price-sensitive, will now bid aggressively for every available cargo, pushing prices skyward.

🌒@EastCalling

The Phalanx LPWS anti-aircraft gun system is intercepting Iranian drones approaching the American military base at Erbil Airfield in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Source: Военный обозреватель
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Attributes of the Phalanx LPWS:

The system uses a 20mm Gatling gun capable of firing up to 4,500 rounds per minute (75 rounds per second) to create a "wall of lead" in the path of incoming threats.

Weaknesses:

The Phalanx is a "last-ditch" defense with an effective range of only 1 to 5 nautical miles (approximately 2–9 km).

Because it intercepts targets so close to its own position (sometimes as close as a few hundred meters), the resulting debris, burning fuel, and shrapnel from a destroyed drone or missile can still strike and damage the protected asset.

It must detect, track, fire upon, and confirm a "kill" on one threat before moving to the next. In a "saturation attack" where dozens of low-cost drones are launched simultaneously, the Phalanx can be mathematically overwhelmed.

At a fire rate of 4,500 rounds per minute, the standard 1,550-round magazine provides only about 20 seconds of total firing time. A typical engagement uses roughly 300 rounds, meaning the system can only handle approximately 4 to 10 separate targets before requiring a 5–10 minute manual reload.

The system has both minimum and maximum velocity limits. It may ignore targets that are moving too slowly to be classified as a threat by its software, or it may be unable to track extremely high-speed hypersonic missiles.

🌒@EastCalling

Chinese Liaison (Китайский свяZноj):

Leading specialists from Gordon Chang's Department of Mental State are observing yet another manic phase in the veteran of the Sinophobic poorhouse.

It would be strange if they hadn't urgently started attaching to the leap onto Iran—especially one that's souring before our very eyes—the narrative of "you understand, this is four-dimensional chess and an ultra-cunning plan to achieve 157 goals at once," and hadn't dragged China into it.

Over the course of a couple of days, the theme of "oh, this is the US cutting China off from resources—what a cunning plan" (cunning how? This has been the essence of every single US plan to contain China since the 1950s, verbatim; nothing new except various types of blockade has ever been invented) was ramped up in percentage terms with the trajectory of a hypersonic missile. China is doomed because 10% of all its oil comes from Iran. 15%. 25%. FORTY-FIVE PERCENT AND THAT'S ONLY OFFICIAL (which means, of course, even more). And then the setup: WELL, YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TRUMP HAS WON AGAIN, RIGHT?

What happened to previous blockades of China? Not specified. Why China is reacting so sluggishly? Also not specified. In theory, if it's all so dire, Beijing should be absolutely freaking out. But that can be chalked up to "they've turned white with fear of the wise and powerful Donald"—business as usual.

Standard hype-building, proven across all planted narratives. Fewer people live in China than they say! 1.2 billion. One billion. 800 million. NO, MAXIMUM HALF A BILLION! Evergrande has debts of over 100 billion. 250 billion. 300+ billion AND THAT'S ONLY OFFICIAL (the most convenient addition, since we're talking about a Totalitarian Country, meaning they always lie there, but we—we have the Secret Truth About Numbers directly from Shanghai and Komsomol and the CPC Central Committee).

We wait for it to be revealed, as part of the hype-sublimation in the alchemical cube of Western pseudo-media—which have long since ceased to be media and are merely transmitters of required narratives—that China got ALL its hydrocarbons from Iran, and now zero. And accordingly, China has a month left at most, then total collapse.

And then? Later, everyone will forget these planted narratives and pretend that nobody shit the bed at all. They've been doing it for years, and it's fine.
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I'll also add, China has 100 days worth of oil supplies in storage and a very affordable option of buying oil from Russia who has plenty to spare. China will be just fine. Perhaps Europe, whose natural gas prices jumped 50% and has a deficit in storage should be more worried?

🌒@EastCalling

The head of the State Department, Marco Rubio, did not rule out that the US will play a role in governing Iran in the future. The US has already announced plans for controlling Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, and Palestine.

Source: Банкста
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They need a qualified doctor, obviously.

🌒@EastCalling

The US has practically unlimited reserves of weapons, with which they can wage wars "forever", Trump stated on Truth Social.

He also once again accused Biden of giving weapons to Ukraine for free.

Source: TASS
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Does this actually mean, they have close to no ammunition?

🌒@EastCalling

Via Geran231:

Suddenly, the Russian jamming-resistant receiver "Kometa-M" was found in the wreckage of the Iranian kamikaze drone Shahed-136, which attacked the British Air Force base "Akrotiri" in Cyprus

Similar "Kometas" are installed on drones, bombs, and missiles that are being launched at targets in Ukraine.
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The Kometa-M satellite navigation units feature jam-resistant controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPA) with 16 elements, which make them highly resistant to electronic warfare.

🌒@EastCalling

Funeral ceremony for the innocents killed in the US-Israeli attack on the Minab school in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

🌒@EastCalling

❗️Euronews reports that as a result of the fall of one of the Iranian missiles on residential areas of Dubai, the estate of one of the former deputy commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Syrsky, worth $7 million, was completely burned down.

The owner of the residence was responsible for the distribution of Western military aid in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: Военный обозреватель
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What a tragedy 😏😁

🌒@EastCalling

The price of gasoline in Ukraine continues to rise.

Today, A-95 costs 72 UAH per liter ($6.25 per gallon), although it was still around 63 UAH yesterday.

Gasoline in Ukraine is now priced roughly the same as in Europe, and is more expensive than in the USA.
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The war with Iran is not only interfering with the transport of fuel, it has also weakened the Ukrainian currency.

Also, am I the only one who wants to call their currency the "hernia" every time I read it? (Hryvnia)

🌒@EastCalling

Ouch.

Brent Crude quickly jumped to $80 per barrel on Monday, but then it receded for a bit before jumping to $84 Tuesday.

I wish I had a barell that I could have filled over the weekend.

🌒@EastCalling

Sabereen News:

🇮🇷Iranian Revolutionary Guard: The second American missile defense system "THAAD" in the West Asia region was targeted by precision-guided missiles belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, resulting in its being put out of service.

- The "THAAD" radar stationed at Al Ruwais base in the United Arab Emirates was also destroyed yesterday.

- By destroying these two systems, the Iranian missile arsenal has increased its ability to successfully strike targets.

🌒@EastCalling

🔥Today at 11:00 EST/ 17:00 CET/ 19:00 MSK we will be streaming live with Larry C. Johnson -  former CIA officer and intelligence analyst, and former planner and advisor at the US State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism.

Watch us live at

Our X
Our Rumble
Our Twitch

Discussing current events

Language: English

🌒@EastCalling

Tel Aviv*

Everyone is arguing over whether or not this is AI. I've decided to stop worrying. The truth will always come out))

Also, you should be watching Ryan, Jelena, and Larry!

🌒@EastCalling

The EU is intensifying pressure on Kyiv over the "Friendship" oil pipeline and demanding an inspection of the damaged pipeline, according to The Financial Times.

According to the publication, Budapest and Bratislava accuse Kyiv of delaying the restoration after the January strike and claim that Ukraine is exaggerating the scale of the damage.

One of the senior EU diplomats said that Ukraine "scored an own goal", giving Hungary a reason to block funding.
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Currently, Hungary is holding up a $90 billion aid package to Ukraine, which itself will only be a skeleton budget for the Ukrainians over the next two years.

We're also about to see a scramble for hydrocarbons due to the conflict between Iran and the US/Israel.

🌒@EastCalling