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Iran has inflicted “extensive damage” to the site of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar, after vowing retaliation for an earlier attack on its South Pars gas field.
State-owned QatarEnergy said there had been missile attacks on Ras Laffan, which had previously been shut down by an Iranian drone strike in the first week of the US and Israel’s war against the Islamic republic.
“Emergency teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires, as extensive damage has been caused,” QatarEnergy said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Iran had vowed to retaliate against oil and gas facilities across the Gulf after the attack on South Pars, part of the world’s largest gasfield and the backbone of the Islamic republic’s domestic energy system.
The assault, which Iranian officials warned would trigger a significant escalation of the conflict, 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 the field, Iranian state media said.
Oil and gas prices jumped earlier on Wednesday as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned it would strike some of the biggest energy facilities across the region, including Ras Laffan as well as facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery on the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted drones and ballistic missiles in its oil-rich Eastern Province, as well as four ballistic missiles launched towards the capital Riyadh.
Brent crude oil rose more than 5 per cent to hit nearly $109 a barrel, its highest level since March 9, before falling back to around $107, while European gas prices jumped 5 per cent to €53 per MWh.
The attack on South Pars is the first time that Iran’s gas production has been targeted. Iranian state media has previously reported that the facilities provide more than two-thirds of the country’s domestic gas.
Iran blamed the attack on “enemies” and vowed to retaliate against US-linked energy targets. Neither the US nor Israel immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, and both countries declined to comment.
A former Iranian oil official said the war is now in the “beginning of a far more dangerous phase” and added that Iran “will level” Qatar’s gas platforms “to the ground if Iran’s main refineries are hit”.
Iranian officials said four parts of the South Pars gas processing facilities were struck and were forced offline “in order to control and prevent the spread of fire”, but the full extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
No deaths were reported in the attack.
Qatar and the UAE condemned the attack 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 gasfield and is an extension of Qatar’s North Field, which before the conflict had helped turn Doha into one of the world’s largest LNH suppliers. Qatar had already suspended exports because of an Iranian drone attack.
Torbjorn Soltvedt, associate director at risk agency Verisk Maplecroft, said the attack on the gasfield reinforced his view that the war “will most likely extend into May, with no immediate clear off-ramps in view”.
Iraq, which relies on imports of Iranian gas for electricity generation, said that flows from Iran had stopped completely on Wednesday afternoon and warned that it would “affect the grid”.
The war has already caused a huge disruption to energy supplies, with traffic in the Strait of Hormuz grinding to a near halt after Iran struck a number of vessels.
Normally about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and LNG passes through the narrow chokepoint each day, and some Asian countries are facing potential shortages or rationing.
US President Donald Trump, who made keeping energy prices low a key pitch to 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 a prolonged disruption or widening attacks on energy infrastructure could drive oil and gas prices even higher.
Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, said that attacking gas production may be an attempt to destabilise Iran internally.
He added that this effort, combined with the US bombing Iran’s coastline on Tuesday night, is “likely making traders realise the conflict can last for longer and the risk of damage to infrastructure is growing”.
The governor of Iran’s gas and petrochemical hub of Assaluyeh, which is fed by South Pars, said the strikes meant “the pendulum of war has swung” to a “full-scale economic war”.
“Energy security in the region has reached the point of zero,” Eskandar Pasalar said in comments in state media.
Iran has struck energy facilities across the Gulf during the war, including hitting refineries in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and targeted oil and gasfields in both countries.
Additional reporting by Raya Jalabi in Beirut and Steff Chavez in Washington
