Qatar is dealing with the fallout from two very different, but related, high-dollar stories this year: the roughly $400 million cost of retrofitting the presidential jet it gifted the United States, and lasting damage to its liquefied natural gas industry from Iranian strikes earlier this year.
The $400 Million Jet
Qatar gifted the U.S. government a Boeing 747 last year to serve as an interim Air Force One while Boeing’s long-delayed replacement jets remain unfinished. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink has testified to Congress that retrofitting the jet with the secure communications, defensive systems, and other equipment required for presidential use will cost taxpayers just under $400 million. The Air Force says the jet will relieve pressure on the current, aging VC-25A fleet in the meantime.
Iran’s Attack Gutted Qatari LNG Capacity
Separately, Iran’s attacks on Qatar earlier this year during the broader Gulf crisis knocked out roughly 17% of the country’s liquefied natural gas export capacity, according to QatarEnergy’s CEO. Two of Qatar’s 14 LNG production trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids facilities were damaged, sidelining an estimated 12.8 million tons per year of export capacity for an expected three to five years and costing the country an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue.
Why It Matters
Qatar is one of the world’s largest LNG exporters, and the sustained hit to its production capacity has implications for global gas markets well beyond the Gulf, particularly for European and Asian buyers who turned to Qatari LNG as an alternative to Russian gas after the war in Ukraine. The jet retrofit and the LNG damage are unrelated in cause, but both underscore how directly Qatar has been drawn into this year’s broader U.S.-Iran and regional tensions despite not being a direct combatant.
