ranian drones damaged the world’s biggest liquefied gas complex at Qatar’s Ras Laffan last week. Attacks on oil tankers have closed the Straits of Hormuz, blocking the only path to market for QatarEnergy, which had to shut down its plants and declare force majeure on LNG shipments. It’s unclear when it will restart. “The most optimistic timeline to resume full production is one month,” predicted TPH analyst Zack van Everen last week.

Two of the biggest likely beneficiaries of this development: Robert Pender and Mike Sabel, the cofounders of America’s soon-to-be biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, Venture Global. Incredibly, from its first cargo just four years ago, Venture Global is on track to export about half of what pioneering LNG giant Qatar would have this year, or roughly 40 million tons of supercooled -260 degree LNG. It’s an enormous amount, the energy equivalent of 16 billion gallons of gasoline, enough to fill 500 insulated tankers to be shipped around the world.

“We probably have the largest number of available cargoes in the market,” CEO Sabel, 59, said in an earnings call last week – which puts him and Pender, 72 – based in Arlington, Va. – in the best position of any global energy tycoons to profit enormously from the sudden need to plug the shortfall. Spot prices for LNG cargoes have more than doubled and gas in Europe is now going for five times the price of pipeline gas in Louisiana, home to Venture Global’s two megaprojects, Calcasieu Pass LNG, and Plaquemines LNG.

“They are in a unique position,” says Jason Feer, head of LNG intelligence for consultancy Poten & Partners. “They have a lot of volume that they can sell into this spike.”

It’s the latest gamble that has paid for this duo, who have more personal skin in the global LNG game than anyone. Already the two........

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