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Ras Laffan: How Qatar gas hub attack is hitting Asia and beyond
Middle East Eye·🕐 2 gün önce·👁 1 görüntülenme
Ras Laffan: How Qatar gas hub attack is hitting Asia and beyond Rayhan Uddin on Thu, 03/19/2026 - 15:57 Iranian missiles halt supply of a fifth of world’s LNG, wiping billions from Qatari revenue and sending prices soaring QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar on 2 March 2026 (Reuters/Stringer) Off Ras Laffan, the Qatari hub responsible for a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas (LNG), is under Iranian attack. On Wednesday, Qatari officials said that Iranian missile strikes caused “significant damage” at Ras Laffan Industrial City, located 80km from the capital, Doha. The site was already the subject of an attack on 2 March, which suspended production. On Thursday, natural gas prices in Europe and Asia soared in response to the attack. Administered by state-owned QatarEnergy, Ras Laffan spans 295 square kilometres – roughly a third of the size of New York City. It is the centrepiece of Qatar’s lucrative gas operation. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Iran’s attacks on the area have wiped out billions of dollars of Qatari revenue. Strikes damaged two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquid facilities, wiping out 17 percent of LNG export capacity. The disruption will sideline 12.8 million tonnes of LNG annually for three to five years and cost $20bn in lost annual revenue, Saad al-Kaabi, chief executive of QatarEnergy, told Reuters. Beyond LNG, Qatar’s condensate exports will fall by 24 percent and LPG by 13 percent, while helium output will drop 14 percent, and naphtha and sulphur by six percent each. The damage will cost $26bn to repair. 'The effects will be profound and long lasting, and will probably eclipse... Russia's invasion of Ukraine' - Seb Kennedy, Energy Flux analytics Kaabi said QatarEnergy may be forced to declare force majeure on long-term contracts for up to five years of LNG destined for Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China. “The effects will be profound and long lasting, and will probably eclipse in depth and scope the impact of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” Seb Kennedy, founder of Energy Flux, an independent gas and LNG analytics platform, told Middle East Eye. Most of the world’s gas is transported either by fixed pipelines or as LNG, which requires specialised processing and shipping. It makes gas markets difficult to reroute in a crisis, compared with oil. Almost all of the output from Ras Laffan is transported via the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman’s Musandam peninsula that Tehran has effectively shut in response to the US-Israeli war. The combination of the attacks on Ras Laffan and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have completely stifled Qatar’s main export. Asia importers hit hardest LNG is largely used for electricity, heating and industrial energy, while LPG is commonly used for domestic and commercial cooking, water heating, portable fuel, and as an alternative to petrol and diesel known as autogas. Other smaller volume outputs from Ras Laffan, such as ethane and condensates, are feedstocks for petrochemicals, plastics and industrial manufacturing, while helium is used in MRI scanners and scientific research. 'Markets around the world need to reduce consumption of LNG and gas to offset the lost production' - Tom Marzec-Manser, Wood Mackenzie Tom Marzec-Manser, director of Europe gas and LNG at Wood Mackenzie, notes that unlike oil, there is no redundancy in LNG production globally: all operational plants are producing as much as they can. “This means markets around the world need to reduce consumption of LNG and gas to offset the lost production,” he told MEE. Asian countries, who account for 90 percent of Qatari LNG exports, will be hit the hardest. “In parts of Asia, industrial processes are switching to oil products where possible,” said Marzec-Manser. “For fertiliser producers, gas is the key feedstock, so if they cannot source supply from elsewhere, they will need to reduce production.” Pakistan and Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable, as they rely on short-term spot prices for LNG, and will struggle to absorb the huge spike in costs. Kennedy said south and southeast Asian countries were already rationing energy supplies and curtailing exports of some fuels. Iran war and Hormuz shock fuels cost-of-living crisis across South Asia Read More » “The scale of supply loss exceeds the ability of governments to manage demand destruction in an orderly fashion,” he said. “As is always the case during conflict and energy shocks, the poorest in society are the first to bear the brunt of the impacts.” Meanwhile, in Europe some countries have sought to offset the lost production by switching to coal for power generation rather than gas. But there isn’t spare capacity to make up the 20 percent shortfall from Qatar, and the costs will ultimately fall on ordinary people. “Prices must rise to unbearable levels to trigger demand destruction large enough to balance the market,” said Kennedy. “No amount of debottlenecking, portfolio optimisation, cargo swaps or ramping up supply-side capacity utilisation will shield consumers from what is about to hit them.” War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0
Ras Laffan, the Qatari hub responsible for a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas (LNG), is under Iranian attack.On Wednesday, Qatari officials said that Iranian missile strikes caused “significant damage” at Ras Laffan Industrial City, located 80km from the capital, Doha. The site was already the subject of an attack on 2 March, which suspended production. On Thursday, natural gas prices in Europe and Asia soared in response to the attack.Administered by state-owned QatarEnergy, Ras Laffan spans 295 square kilometres – roughly a third of the size of New York City. It is the centrepiece of Qatar’s lucrative gas operation.
The site processes the Gulf state’s vast gas reserves from the offshore North Field, turning it into LNG, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquid fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and other byproducts. Iran’s attacks on the area have wiped out billions of dollars of Qatari revenue. Strikes damaged two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquid facilities, wiping out 17 percent of LNG export capacity.The disruption will sideline 12.8 million tonnes of LNG annually for three to five years and cost $20bn in lost annual revenue, Saad al-Kaabi, chief executive of QatarEnergy, told Reuters.Beyond LNG, Qatar’s condensate exports will fall by 24 percent and LPG by 13 percent, while helium output will drop 14 percent, and naphtha and sulphur by six percent each. The damage will cost $26bn to repair. 'The effects will be profound and long lasting, and will probably eclipse... Russia's invasion of Ukraine'- Seb Kennedy, Energy Flux analyticsKaabi said QatarEnergy may be forced to declare force majeure on long-term contracts for up to five years of LNG destined for Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China. “The effects will be profound and long lasting, and will probably eclipse in depth and scope the impact of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” Seb Kennedy, founder of Energy Flux, an independent gas and LNG analytics platform, told Middle East Eye. Most of the world’s gas is transported either by fixed pipelines or as LNG, which requires specialised processing and shipping. It makes gas markets difficult to reroute in a crisis, compared with oil.Almost all of the output from Ras Laffan is transported via the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman’s Musandam peninsula that Tehran has effectively shut in response to the US-Israeli war. The combination of the attacks on Ras Laffan and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have completely stifled Qatar’s main export.LNG is largely used for electricity, heating and industrial energy, while LPG is commonly used for domestic and commercial cooking, water heating, portable fuel, and as an alternative to petrol and diesel known as autogas. Other smaller volume outputs from Ras Laffan, such as ethane and condensates, are feedstocks for petrochemicals, plastics and industrial manufacturing, while helium is used in MRI scanners and scientific research.'Markets around the world need to reduce consumption of LNG and gas to offset the lost production'- Tom Marzec-Manser, Wood MackenzieTom Marzec-Manser, director of Europe gas and LNG at Wood Mackenzie, notes that unlike oil, there is no redundancy in LNG production globally: all operational plants are producing as much as they can. “This means markets around the world need to reduce consumption of LNG and gas to offset the lost production,” he told MEE.Asian countries, who account for 90 percent of Qatari LNG exports, will be hit the hardest. “In parts of Asia, industrial processes are switching to oil products where possible,” said Marzec-Manser.“For fertiliser producers, gas is the key feedstock, so if they cannot source supply from elsewhere, they will need to reduce production.” Pakistan and Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable, as they rely on short-term spot prices for LNG, and will struggle to absorb the huge spike in costs. Kennedy said south and southeast Asian countries were already rationing energy supplies and curtailing exports of some fuels. “The scale of supply loss exceeds the ability of governments to manage demand destruction in an orderly fashion,” he said. “As is always the case during conflict and energy shocks, the poorest in society are the first to bear the brunt of the impacts.”Meanwhile, in Europe some countries have sought to offset the lost production by switching to coal for power generation rather than gas.But there isn’t spare capacity to make up the 20 percent shortfall from Qatar, and the costs will ultimately fall on ordinary people.“Prices must rise to unbearable levels to trigger demand destruction large enough to balance the market,” said Kennedy. “No amount of debottlenecking, portfolio optimisation, cargo swaps or ramping up supply-side capacity utilisation will shield consumers from what is about to hit them.”
