Major blow to Qatar’s LNG production

Military attacks on Qatar’s energy infrastructure have destroyed about 17% of LNG export capacity.

• Damaged:

• 2 out of 14 liquefaction trains

• 1 major processing facility

• Estimated losses: ~$20 billion per year

• Full recovery could take 3–5 years

👉 This is one of the most severe disruptions in the history of the global gas market.

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🔥 Ras Laffan complex – heavily affected

• The Ras Laffan industrial complex (the world’s largest LNG hub) suffered significant damage and fires

• This complex accounts for around 20% of global LNG supply

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📉 Exports disrupted + contracts affected

• QatarEnergy has declared force majeure on deliveries

• Affected contracts: Europe and Asia (Italy, Belgium, China, South Korea)

• Unavailable capacity: ~12.8 million tonnes/year

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🌍 Immediate impact in Europe

• Gas prices have surged sharply (previously up to ~40%)

• Risks include:

• higher prices in the long term

• high market volatility

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🚢 Crisis signal: LNG terminals in Europe

• Qatar has started releasing LNG terminal slots in Belgium (Zeebrugge)

• This indicates serious production and export disruptions

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🧭 Geopolitical context

• The attacks are linked to the regional conflict (Iran vs. Israel and allies)

• Energy infrastructure in the Gulf is becoming a strategic target

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🧠 Quick conclusion

• This is a major ongoing energy crisis

• Qatar (one of the world’s largest LNG exporters) is heavily affected

• Europe and Asia will likely face:

• higher prices

• potential supply issues

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy.

The strikes, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors directly into the conflict. Iran’s targeting of energy production further stressed global supplies already under pressure because of its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, Iran’s top leaders have been killed in airstrikes and the country’s military capabilities have been severely degraded. Still, Iran — now led by the son of the supreme leader killed in the war’s opening salvo — remains capable of missile and drone attacks rattling its Gulf Arab neighbors and a global economy dependent on the energy they produce.Iran hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and set Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze, sending international gas and oil prices soaring. Brent crude oil is up more than 60% since the start of the war.

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged the U.S. would “massively blow up the entirety” of the world’s largest gas field if Iran attacks Qatar again. Trump made his threat against Iran’s South Pars natural gas field after Iranian missiles hit Qatar Wednesday, following an Israeli attack on the same field.

The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a senior administration official said. It’s an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year in Trump’s big tax cuts bill.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least four people were killed in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Awa as Iran fired missiles toward Israel. At least 13 others were injured. More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese, according to the Lebanese government, which says over 1,000 people have been killed. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.