Key insights
- QatarEnergy reported extensive damage to Ras Laffan Industrial City following missile attacks, attributed to Iran. This poses a direct threat to Qatar's national security and has led to evacuations of LNG installations. The incident raises concerns about potential disruptions to global LNG supply chains, which could negatively impact US equities, particularly in the energy sector, due to increased price volatility and geopolitical risk.
March 18 (Reuters) - Qatar's state oil giant QatarEnergy said on Wednesday that "extensive damage" has been caused after the Ras Laffan Industrial City was subjected to missile attacks, shortly after the country's interior ministry reported a fire resulting from an Iranian attack on the area.
"Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires," the world's second-largest LNG exporter said in a statement. No casualties were reported and all personnel were accounted for, it said.
Qatar condemned in a statement the attack saying that it represents a "direct threat" to its national security. Iran insists on targeting Qatar and its neighboring countries in an "irresponsible approach," the Qatari foreign ministry added.
Qatar's interior ministry earlier said that civil defence personnel were dealing with a fire in the Ras Laffan area after an Iranian attack. The ministry said that the fire in Ras Laffan area was preliminarily brought under control, with no injuries reported.
Ras Laffan, located 80 km north of Doha, is an energy-industry hub and hosts several international companies.
Iran earlier issued an evacuation warning for several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, including the Ras Laffan Refinery, saying they would be targeted by strikes "in the coming hours," Iranian state media reported.
Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG installations are being evacuated, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, following Iran's threat to attack Gulf energy facilities.
(Reporting by Yomna Ehab and Jaidaa Taha, Editing by Nick Zieminski)