Iranian attack caused significant damage at Ras Laffan gas facility, Qatar says

Thursday March 19, 2026

QatarEnergy’s liquefied natural gas production facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City [File: Reuters]

Iranian missile strikes on Qatar’s flagship Ras Laffan Industrial City, the country’s main gas hub, left “significant damage,” authorities said.

“The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the blatant Iranian attack targeting Ras Laffan Industrial City, which caused fires resulting in significant damage to the facility,” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.

Qatar’s Ministry of Interior said the blaze had been preliminarily brought under control and that no injuries were reported.

“All personnel have been accounted for and no casualties have been reported at this time,” said QatarEnergy, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer.

In a subsequent statement early on Thursday, QatarEnergy added that several other LNG facilities had also been attacked, “causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage”.

The announcements came just hours after Iran threatened to strike oil and gas facilities across the Gulf region in retaliation for an Israeli attack on its South Pars gasfield, as the fallout from the United States-Israeli war on the country continues to escalate.

Tehran’s warning singled out Qatar’s Mesaieed Petrochemical complex, Mesaieed Holding Company and Ras Laffan Refinery; Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and Jubail Petrochemical complex; and the United Arab Emirates’ Al Hosn gasfield.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry declared the Iranian embassy’s military and security attaches, and their staff, persona non grata.

It ordered them to depart within 24 hours, saying the move followed Iran’s repeated attacks.

“Qatar considers this assault a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of its sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security,” it said.

“The Iranian side continues its escalatory policies that are pushing the region toward the brink and drawing countries not party to this crisis into the conflict zone.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and US President Donald Trump after the attacks.

“It is in our common interest to implement, without delay, a moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure, particularly energy and water supply facilities,” Macron said.

“Civilian populations and their essential needs, as well as the security of energy supplies, must be protected from military escalation.”

On March 2, Qatar suspended LNG production after an attack on the Ras Laffan facility and a strike on a water tank at a power plant in Mesaieed Industrial City.

Ras Laffan, about 80km (50 miles) northeast of Doha, is the world’s largest LNG production site, supplying roughly 20 percent of global LNG and helping balance demand in Asian and European markets.

“This is what Qatar’s wealth is built on,” Al Jazeera’s Victoria Gatenby said. “We’ve also had alerts here in Doha and the threat level has been raised.”

Rachel Ziemba, a senior fellow at the think tank Center for a New American Security, noted that because Ras Laffan had already paused production, a fresh global supply shock was unlikely in the near term.

“But it could put further pressure on regional power supplies,” Ziemba told Al Jazeera. She added that it also “risks prices staying high for longer”.

Babak Hafezi, professor of international business at American University, said higher LNG prices would reverberate through European markets.

“Since the start of the Ukrainian war and the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, the Germans and the [European Union] have become net importers of LNG,” Hafezi told Al Jazeera. Other countries reliant on LNG include Japan, Turkiye and India.

“The smaller countries with weaker economies in the Global South will be hurt the most, as LNG price increases will lead to demand destruction,” he said.

The strike on Ras Laffan coincided with Saudi Arabia’s plan to host a meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries in Riyadh to discuss finding an off-ramp from this conflict.

“The focus of this meeting now will very much be on the threats they are facing from Iran and dealing with the aftermath of those attacks,” Al Jazeera’s Gatenby said.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said Wednesday that air defences intercepted four ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh and two targeting the country’s eastern region.

Saudi Arabia’s National Early Warning Platform for Emergency Cases issued alerts warning of danger in the governorates of Riyadh and al-Kharj.

The UAE’s Defence Ministry said its air defences handled 13 ballistic missiles and 27 drones coming from Iran.

Operations were suspended at the Habshan gas facility as authorities responded to two incidents of falling debris after a missile was successfully intercepted, Abu Dhabi’s media office said.

The Bab oilfield was also targeted, the office added. No injuries were reported.

The Defence Ministry said that since the start of the attacks, it has faced 327 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,699 drones.