DUBAI: Qatar said on Thursday that Iranian missile attacks damaged more liquefied natural gas sites in the energy-rich nation, “causing sizable fires and extensive further damage.”
Qatar Energy, the nation’s state-owned oil and gas company, announced the damage. It said firefighters were working to halt the blazes and no one had been hurt so far.
Qatar is a key source of natural gas for the world’s energy markets. It already shut in its production earlier in the war, but extensive damage could delay Qatar in getting its supplies to the market after the Iran war ends.
Israel killed Iran’s intelligence minister as it kept up its campaign against the Islamic Republic’s top leadership and reportedly attacked an Iranian offshore natural gas field on Wednesday, as the war escalated pressure on the region’s economic lifeblood: energy.
Iran condemned the strike on its massive South Pars natural gas field, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world.”
Iran escalated strikes on its Persian Gulf neighbours’ energy facilities, hitting gas facilities in Qatar after Israel launched an attack against Iran’s South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf that it shares with Doha. Qatar in response ordered Iranian Embassy officials to leave the country within 24 hours.
Tehran also struck the Habshan gas facility and Bab field in the United Arab Emirates, which the government there called a “dangerous escalation” in the Islamic Republic’s war against Israel and the United States. Authorities in Abu Dhabi say the gas operations had been shut down after interceptions over the sites.