The Italian company Edison said on Tuesday that Qatar Energy Company will not be able to deliver liquefied natural gas shipments to it until the end of next December.
In a message published on the GME platform - the body responsible for managing energy markets in Italy - Edison explained that Qatar Energy had informed it of the extension of the “force majeure” situation related to liquefied natural gas shipments, after the suspension was scheduled to end early in December.
Edison indicated that three additional shipments of liquefied natural gas, which were intended for the Italian company - which is one of Qatar's largest customers in Europe - will be affected by this suspension.
Qatar Energy had first notified Edison of the cancellation of LNG shipments in April, following trade disruptions and damage to LNG facilities in Qatar as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran that broke out in late February.
Edison has a long-term contract with Qatar Energy to supply 6.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Italy, which represents about 10 percent of the country’s total consumption.
It is noteworthy that this contract, which entered into force in 2009, extends for a total period of 25 years.
Shares of technology companies rose on Tuesday, following the strong gains on Wall Street, after investors welcomed the filing of an application by Anthropic, a company specializing in artificial intelligence, to offer its shares for public subscription, in a move that restored optimism in the sector after its performance faltered during the second half of the year.
But the gains were mainly concentrated in South Korea and Japan, while Asian and European stock markets recorded mixed performance, with investors anticipating a series of corporate business results and important central bank decisions during the current week, according to Agence France-Presse.
Anthropic, one of the most prominent artificial intelligence companies in the world, announced in its stock offering filing that its revenues during the first half of the year had increased by about 1,300 percent on an annual basis, but it also warned of safety risks.
The offering is seen as an important test of the extent to which the artificial intelligence boom can generate profits. Investors' disappointing reception of the offering may lead to a further decline in enthusiasm for the sector, at a time when questions are increasing regarding the magnitude of investments in it and the financial conditions of a number of its companies.
The offering file includes risks related to the nature of the sector, which in recent months has witnessed successive reports of artificial intelligence systems behaving in unexpected and harmful ways.
The company said that its business could be harmed “if the use of our artificial intelligence models results in harm, whether as a result of their use by malicious parties or misuse by third parties, or if the controls and preventive mechanisms we adopt fail to prevent this use.”
However, shares of technology companies listed on Wall Street rose, pushing the Nasdaq, Standard & Poor's 500, and Dow Jones indices upward.
In Seoul, the index briefly jumped by more than 4 percent, supported by strong gains in the shares of chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung. The Tokyo index also rose by 1.8 percent, supported by the rise of Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and SoftBank shares.
Fiona Cincotta, from Forex.com, said that sentiment towards the technology sector improved as investors evaluated the Anthropic offering file, at the beginning of a week full of corporate business results and the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.
She added that the company revealed, in the offering file, significant losses and strong growth in revenues, while displaying its ambitions to build artificial intelligence systems capable of transforming the global economy, even if that requires high costs. She indicated that the listing plan is still in place, despite other companies retreating from similar plans due to recent market fluctuations.
Sydney, Taipei and Manila markets also recorded gains, while stocks fell in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai, Wellington, Bangkok and Jakarta. The London, Paris and Frankfurt markets opened lower.
This week, investors are awaiting the business results of Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon, in addition to SK Hynix and Samsung.
The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it announces its decision on Wednesday, but the CME Group's Fed Watch tool indicates a 70 percent probability of raising interest at the December meeting.
In energy markets, oil prices stabilized after falling on Monday, coinciding with senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan holding talks with Iran, in an attempt to prevent renewed war in the Middle East, while Tehran described the discussions as “very good.”
A statement by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that officials from the three countries that signed the “Mecca Agreement” went to Iran as part of efforts aimed at “reducing the escalation between the parties to the current crisis.”
The talks came after warnings from the United States, Iran and Israel about the possibility of a resumption of hostilities in the eight-month-old war. Some observers indicated that the period between the US midterm elections scheduled for next Tuesday and the new Congress taking office may witness increasing tensions.
Attention is also turning to the elections in Israel, as polling stations opened their doors and voters began casting their ballots in an entitlement that is seen as a test for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the increasing political trend towards the right in the country, in light of the war on Iran.
Snowflake, the American company specializing in data technologies and artificial intelligence, announced expected investments worth $300 million in its operations in Saudi Arabia until 2030, coinciding with the opening of its regional headquarters for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa in Riyadh.
Investment plans include launching two new cloud regions in Saudi Arabia during the second half of 2026, to support data localization and sovereignty requirements, in addition to Google Cloud’s cloud region in Dammam, which the company supports.
As part of its partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Snowflake intends to enable up to 25,000 Saudi learners to acquire skills in data and artificial intelligence by 2030, through the “One Million Minds” program, which combines virtual and in-person training with practical applications.
Regional Vice President for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Snowflake, Michel Nader, said that the expected investment reflects the company’s confidence in the Kingdom and its digital future, noting that data, artificial intelligence, and human capital development represent basic pillars of the Saudi economic transformation. The announcement came in conjunction with data from the General Authority for Statistics, which showed an increase in the use of artificial intelligence among Saudi companies by 20 percent during the year 2025, on an annual basis.
