Iranian missile strikes have reduced Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity by 17%, according to state-owned QatarEnergy.
The company stated that repairs to the damaged facilities could take up to five years, impacting supplies to markets in Europe, and Asia. “The significant damage sustained to our production facilities will take up to five years to repair,” QatarEnergy said in a post on Thursday.
The attack on QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan LNG plant, the world’s largest, came in retaliation for a prior Israeli strike against Iran’s South Pars gas field on Wednesday. The escalating exchange highlights the growing risk of a wider regional conflict impacting critical energy infrastructure.
Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President & CEO of QatarEnergy, stated on X that no injuries were reported in the attacks, which he described as “unjustified and senseless attacks… against global energy security and stability.”
Al-Kaabi indicated that exports to China, South Korea, Italy, and Belgium would be affected. “We will be forced to declare force majeure for a period of up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts,” he added.
Force majeure is a legal term referring to unforeseen circumstances that prevent a company from fulfilling a contract.
QatarEnergy’s exports, representing nearly a fifth of global LNG supply, were already constrained by a near-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with all production halted on March 2 following a previous attack.
Even before the latest strikes, Asian and European countries reliant on natural gas imports were bracing for sharply higher LNG prices this month, driving up costs for electricity generation, home heating, and fertilizer production.
Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.
