A single $100,000 drone cut Qatar’s LNG output by 17% during recent crisis, Al Ansari says

A drone costing no more than $100,000 cut Qatar’s LNG production capacity by 17% during the recent regional crisis, according to Majed Al Ansari, adviser to Qatar’s prime minister.

Speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, Al Ansari said the crisis caused a 90% drop in LNG supplies and a 77% decline in oil coming out of the Gulf. He described those levels as unprecedented in previous crises. Similar attacks, he added, disrupted more than 20% of global LNG supply overall.

Despite the disruption, Al Ansari said more than 90% of attacks on the Gulf were deterred. He also said no Gulf country used its strategic reserves or experienced supply shortages during the crisis.

Vice Admiral John Miller, a former commander of the US Fifth Fleet, said naval power alone could not eliminate the threat. Cheap drones and small boats launched from shore remained capable of deterring commercial shipping through chokepoints including the Strait of Hormuz and Bab Al Mandeb, he said. Diplomatic and economic measures would need to accompany military action.

A UAE Foreign Ministry policy-planning representative said the crisis exposed weaknesses in turning the Gulf’s shared perception of threats into coordinated action after three decades of relative strategic insulation. The third Hili Forum, held under the theme “Gulf at Crossroads: Conflict, Consequences and Course Correction,” brought together more than 55 speakers and over 1,000 participants from more than 35 countries.

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We have not seen this scale in any previous crisis.