Brent crude briefly surges past $119 before pulling back; Qatar says Iranian attacks will cost $20 billion in annual revenue losses.
Iran has launched waves of missile attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial complex and energy infrastructure across the Gulf on Wednesday and Thursday, causing extensive damage to the world’s largest LNG production facility and pushing oil and gas prices to their highest levels since the war began on February 28.
QatarEnergy said that, following Iran’s initial Wednesday missile attack on Ras Laffan—which caused extensive damage to the Pearl Gas-to-Liquids facility—several other facilities were targeted in further attacks early Thursday morning. These subsequent strikes led to significant fires and additional damage at multiple LNG facilities. Qatar’s energy chief stated this damage would result in an estimated $20 billion in annual revenue loss.
The attacks came in retaliation for an Israeli air strike on South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas field, located off Iran’s southern coast. In its response, Iran hit Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, causing extensive damage, and also targeted two refineries in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia said it reserved the right to take military action against Iran if necessary and later stated it had intercepted an Iranian missile targeting the port of Yanbu. Additionally, an Iranian missile struck an Israeli oil refinery complex at Haifa.
Meanwhile, the Israeli attack took offline processing capacity for approximately 100 million cubic meters of gas per day—roughly 14 per cent of South Pars output—directly affecting feedstock for Iran’s petrochemical sector and straining pipeline gas supplies to Turkey.
In the wake of these developments, Brent crude briefly climbed above $119 a barrel before pulling back to close at $108.65, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was helping the United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu also claimed Iran had lost the ability to enrich uranium and make ballistic missiles.
Responding to the situation, US President Donald Trump said Washington knew nothing about the Israeli strike on South Pars and warned that the US would massively destroy the entire South Pars gas field if Iran continued attacking Qatar’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, one Israeli official told CNN that the strike was in fact carried out in coordination with the US.
Amid mounting tensions, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Thursday that Iran would show zero restraint if its infrastructure was struck again. He said its response to the South Pars attack had employed only a fraction of its power and that the only reason for restraint was respect for the requested de-escalation.
In response to the attacks, Qatar expelled the Iranian embassy’s military and security attachés and their staff, demanding they leave within 24 hours. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the assault a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of its sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security.
Following these escalations, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday would bring the largest strike package yet against Iran, while the Pentagon is seeking an additional $200 billion to fund the war effort.
Analysts at Wood Mackenzie said the attacks fundamentally reshape the global LNG outlook, with disruption to global natural gas supply now likely to last longer than two months. Against this backdrop, economists have warned that the sustained Gulf energy crisis could trigger stagflation—a simultaneous supply shock, inflation spike, and financial instability—reminiscent of the 1973 Arab oil embargo but amplified by today’s tightly integrated global supply chains.
