Europe gas prices soar 35% after world’s top LNG plant hit by Iran; oil jumps over 8%
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Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which houses the world’s largest LNG export plant, suffered “extensive damage” after the strike, the authorities said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Oil and gas prices soared after Iran carried out an attack on a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) site in Qatar, one of several energy assets it pledged to target following strikes on the Islamic republic’s giant South Pars gas field.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 8.9 per cent to US$116.95 as at 4.52pm Singapore time on March 19.
Benchmark European natural gas prices spiked as much as 35 per cent on March 19 to more than double their pre-war level.
Several LNG facilities at the Ras Laffan site, which typically produces about a fifth of global supply, were the subject of missile attacks, causing fires and extensive damage, QatarEnergy said in a statement on March 19.
While shipments from the plant had already been halted earlier in March due to the war, the latest strikes threaten to keep gas prices in Europe and Asia higher for longer.
“Successful attacks on Ras Laffan could cause a lasting global gas shortage,” said Mr Saul Kavonic, an energy analyst at MST Marquee.
“It’s significant because even when the war ends, the impact on supply could last months or even years as repairs are undertaken, and replacement parts are sourced.”
The LNG facility supplied 19 per cent of global LNG exports in 2025, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Its shipments accounted for more than a fifth of total gas consumption in India, Taiwan and Pakistan, according to Energy Institute data.
Asian LNG prices are expected to rise sharply in the coming months after the strike. From the second half of April up to the first half of June, the super-chilled fuel may be trading above US$26 per million British thermal units, traders said, citing indicative prices from S&P Global Energy. That’s above the level spot prices reached in the week after the Middle Eastern conflict broke out.
Oil, meanwhile, has surged about 60 per cent since the war began on Feb 28, choking off the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and slashing a swath of oil and gas production.
However, Iran’s upstream energy industry had been largely spared until now, helping to contain the prospect of an escalation that could have a bigger impact on longer-term supply.
“The market is still underestimating and not fully pricing the risk of how quickly this could escalate into direct hits on wider Gulf energy infrastructure,” said Mr Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Karobaar Capital.
“If this escalates into direct hits, then US$120 won’t be the ceiling, it’ll be the starting point. To see US$140 to US$160 won’t be crazy at all,” he added, referring to Brent prices.
US President Donald Trump said he knew about the Israeli attack on the South Pars field in advance, but wants no more strikes on Iranian energy sites, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Mr Trump said earlier this week that targeting oil infrastructure on Iran’s main export hub, Kharg Island, remains on the table following the earlier bombing of military targets there.
“Many of the options President Trump has to increase pressure on Iran would send energy prices even higher, including attempting to seize Kharg Island or striking Iran’s energy production infrastructure,” said Mr Will Todman, senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The US may decide to consider a crude oil export levy or possibly a ban to combat surging energy prices at home caused by the war.
As part of efforts to combat rising prices, Mr Trump temporarily waived a century-old shipping mandate – the Jones Act – to lower the cost of transporting oil, gas and other commodities around the US. Vice-President J.D. Vance and other key Trump administration officials plan to huddle with oil executives on March 19.
Energy targets
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that energy sites in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar “have become direct and legitimate targets” following the attack on South Pars.
The sites that Iran listed, all of which have at least some kind of US interest, were:
The Ras Laffan refinery and the Mesaieed petrochemical complex in Qatar.
The Samref refinery and the Jubail petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia.
The Al Hosn gas asset in the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Aramco is evacuating the Samref and Jubail facilities as a precautionary step following the issuance of the list by Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Al Hosn is the former name of the venture operating the UAE’s Shah field. Adnoc had already shut down operations at Shah after the field was attacked by drones, sparking a fire, late on March 13.
South Pars is Iran’s biggest gas field. It reached a record 730 million cubic metres of daily production in 2025, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry’s official news service, Shana. That is half of what the whole of Europe was consuming on average in 2025. bloomberg
