Iran strikes destroy 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity

Iranian missile attacks have disabled about 17% of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, leading to an estimated $20 billion in annual revenue losses, QatarEnergy’s CEO and Minister of State for Energy Affairs said on Thursday.

Saad al-Kaabi said the attacks damaged two out of Qatar’s 14 LNG production trains, along with one of its two gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities. In an interview, he noted that the impact would remove around 12.8 million tons per year of LNG capacity for a period of three to five years.

Kaabi expressed shock over the incident, saying he never expected Qatar and the wider region to face such an attack, particularly from a fellow Muslim country during Ramadan.

The strikes came hours after Iran targeted Gulf oil and gas facilities in response to Israeli attacks on its own gas infrastructure.

Due to the damage, state-owned QatarEnergy will be forced to declare force majeure on long-term LNG supply contracts for up to five years, affecting shipments to countries including Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China.

Earlier, QatarEnergy had already declared force majeure on all LNG output following attacks on its Ras Laffan production hub, which was hit again on Wednesday.