As part of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, Israel has struck the South Pars gas field in Iran, the world's largest gas field with an estimated 51,000 bcm of in-situ natural gas and some 50 Gbl of natural gas condensates. The field, shared with Qatar (called "North Field" in Qatar), covers a significant share of Iran's gas consumption (AP, 19/03/2026).
In retaliation, Iranian missile strikes have inflicted widespread damage across major energy facilities in the Gulf region, sending shockwaves through global commodity markets and raising fears of prolonged supply disruptions (Reuters 19/03/2026).
In Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City, the epicentre of the country's LNG processing operations sustained what QatarEnergy described as "extensive damage" following the missile strikes. Several LNG facilities inside the complex were hit, triggering sizeable fires. QatarEnergy's CEO stated that the attacks knocked out approximately 17% of Qatar's LNG export capacity, with repairs on Train 4 and 6 (totalling 12.8 Mt/year) expected to take 3 to 5 years. The company is also considering declaring force majeure on long-term contracts with Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China for up to 5 years.
Among the facilities affected is Shell's Pearl gas-to-liquids plant, also located within Ras Laffan. The Pearl GTL facility — capable of processing up to 1.6 bcf/d (16.5 bcm/year) of wellhead gas and converting it into 140,000 barrels per day of gas-to-liquids — sustained damage to one of its two trains. Shell, the world's largest LNG trader, confirmed production has halted. Overall, QatarEnergy estimates the loss of associated product production due to the outage at 18.6 mbl of condensate (24% of Qatar's exports), 1.3 Mt of LPG (13% of exports), and 595 kt of naphtha (6% of exports).
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities reported incidents at the Habshan gas facilities and the Bab oil field, caused by debris from intercepted missiles, forcing a shutdown of the gas facilities. The Habshan complex, operated by ADNOC, is one of the world's largest gas processing sites, with a total capacity of 6.1 bcf/d (63 bcm/year) across five plants.
Strikes were also reported on a refinery in Saudi Arabia and two Kuwaiti refineries, where fires broke out.
Consequently, European natural gas prices surged by as much as 35%, pushing benchmark futures to more than double their pre-war levels, while Brent crude climbed above USD119 a barrel.
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