Iran hit the site of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar with a ballistic missile, inflicting “extensive damage” in retaliation for an Israeli attack on the Islamic republic’s South Pars gas field.
The attacks mark a significant escalation in the Middle East war and threaten major repercussions for global energy markets. Qatar is the second-largest exporter of LNG in the world, and the biggest supplier to Asia.
Qatar’s defence ministry said on X that Iran had fired five ballistic missiles, with four intercepted and one hitting Ras Laffan, a huge industrial complex that is home to state-owned QatarEnergy’s LNG plants and a fuel refinery. It is also the location of Shell’s $18bn Pearl GTL plant, which turns gas into chemical feedstocks and fuel.
“Emergency teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires, as extensive damage has been caused,” QatarEnergy said on X.
Analysts said the attack had the potential to cause a “lasting global gas shortage” depending on the scale of the damage, as Ras Laffan is normally responsible for about a fifth of global LNG supplies.
“Even when the war ends, the impact on supply could last months or even years as repairs are undertaken,” said Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at MST Financial.
The war pursued by the US and Israel against Iran has already caused huge disruption to global energy supplies, with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz grinding to a near halt under Iranian fire.
All Gulf oil and gas producers have been forced to reduce their output. Some Asian countries were already facing potential energy shortages or rationing before the latest round of attacks.
“If the Ras Laffan LNG production capability has been damaged, then the gas supply balance is that much tighter,” said Tom Marzec-Manser, director for European gas and LNG at Wood Mackenzie.
Iran had vowed to retaliate against oil and gas facilities across the Gulf after an attack on South Pars, part of the world’s largest gas field and the backbone of the Islamic republic’s domestic energy system.
It was Israel that struck the Iranian gas field, a person familiar with the matter said, an assertion confirmed by US President Donald Trump. In a post on Truth Social, he said the Israelis had “violently lashed out” at South Pars “out of anger” but would make no further attacks on it unless Iran again attacked Qatar’s liquefied natural gas facilities – in which case the US would “massively blow up” the whole of South Pars.
The assault was the first against Iranian energy production facilities since the US and Israel launched their war on February 28, and also targeted petrochemical facilities fed by South Pars, Iran’s state media said.
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Oil and gas prices have jumped as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would strike some of the biggest energy facilities across the region, including Ras Laffan, as well as plants in the United Arab Emirates and a Saudi Arabian refinery on the Red Sea.
Brent crude climbed 4.6 per cent to $112.3 a barrel in early European hours. European gas prices had jumped 6 per cent to €54 per MWh.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday evening it had intercepted drones and ballistic missiles in its oil-rich Eastern Province. It also intercepted four ballistic missiles launched towards the capital Riyadh.
The UAE said it was dealing with “incidents” at the Habshan gas facility and Bab oilfield in Abu Dhabi caused by falling debris from missile interceptions. Operations were suspended at Habshan.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and one of the Islamic republic’s most senior wartime leaders, said the attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure triggered “a new level of conflict.” He vowed Tehran would respond with an “eye for eye.”
Qatar, which has better relations with Iran than other Gulf states and previously mediated between Tehran and Washington, condemned the attack on Ras Laffan as a “dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of the state’s sovereignty.”
Qatar’s foreign ministry on Wednesday evening declared Iran’s military and security attachés “persona non grata” and instructed them to leave the Gulf state within 24 hours.
International oil companies including ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies and Shell have all invested billions of dollars in Ras Laffan, in partnerships with QatarEnergy.
A Shell spokesperson, noting QatarEnergy’s statement about the attack, said the UK company was “currently assessing any potential impact on any asset operated or utilised by Shell in Ras Laffan.”
Qatar and the UAE had earlier condemned the strike on South Pars, with Doha describing it as “dangerous” and “irresponsible.” The UAE “stressed the need to avoid targeting vital facilities under any circumstances.”
South Pars is part of the world’s largest natural gas field and is an extension of Qatar’s North Field.
Torbjorn Soltvedt, associate director at risk agency Verisk Maplecroft, said the attack on Iran’s gas field reinforced his view the war “will most likely extend into May, with no immediate clear off-ramps in view.”
Trump, who made keeping energy costs low a key pitch to American voters, has authorised the release of strategic oil reserves in co-ordination with other International Energy Agency members in a bid to keep prices down.
But the risk of prolonged disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz or widening attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure could drive oil and gas prices even higher.
Iran had already struck energy facilities across the region during the war, including targeting oil and gas fields in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Iraq, which relies on imports of Iranian gas for electricity generation, said flows from Iran had stopped completely and warned it would “affect the grid.”
Financial Times
