Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz and partial destruction of Qatar’s liquified natural gas (LNG) infrastructure on March 18 will have a dramatic global impact, primarily in East Asia, but won’t affect North American natural gas prices, market analysts say.

“The price of natural gas in the United States has not been affected because the [domestic] market is ‘shielded’ from international price spikes,” said Ken Medlock, an energy market researcher at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.