Back to coal as conflict chokes gas supply

Heavy equipment moving through coal at the General James Gavin Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant in Cheshire, Ohio. — AP Photo

THE conflict in the Middle East is forcing a reckoning for nations dependent on liquefied natural gas (LNG), the fuel anchoring power generation across many of Asia’s largest economies.

The fighting has essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz and shut down Qatari production, removing about a fifth of the global supply of LNG from the market.