‘Doomsday
scenario’: a visual guide to the oil and gas site attacks in the Middle East
Attacks
on facilities by both sides in the conflict this week threaten grave
consequences for the global economy
Jillian
Ambrose. Videos and graphics by Laure Boulinier, Ana Lucía González Paz and
Paul Scruton
Thu 19
Mar 2026 15.58 GMT
The
escalating attacks on key oil and gas projects in the Middle East are expected
to fuel a new phase of the ongoing conflict, with profound consequences for the
world’s energy supplies and the global economy.
The Iran
regime has vowed to target a string of key energy infrastructure across the
region after warning that an Israeli strike on a production facility for its
largest gasfield at South Pars on Wednesday had ignited a “full-scale economic
war”.
South
Pars is part of the world’s largest natural gasfield, which is shared by Iran
and Qatar. It is located offshore between the two Gulf states and forms a domed
extension to Qatar’s giant North Field.
Within
hours of the South Pars strike, Iranian missiles hit Ras Laffan, the site of
Qatar’s core liquefied natural gas processing facilities, causing “extensive
damage” to the world’s largest suppliers of seaborne gas cargoes, according to
Qatar’s state gas company.
The
damaged facilities will take three to five years to repair, according to the
QatarEnergy chief executive, Saad al-Kaabi, raising fears of a protracted
global gas supply crisis.
“I never
in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be – Qatar and the
region – in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the
month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,” al-Kaabi told the Reuters news
agency.
The
Qatari state confirmed an attack involving five ballistic missiles launched
from Iran. Although four were intercepted, the fifth missile struck the Ras
Laffan industrial complex, which is responsible for producing the state’s gas
exports.
A Qatari
government spokesperson warned that targeting energy infrastructure
“constitutes a threat to global energy security, as well as to the peoples of
the region and its environment”.
Qatar’s
gas exports made up a fifth of the global LNG market last year, of which about
80% was shipped to energy-hungry developing economies in Asia. A long-term
disruption to its exports would have serious consequences for gas buyers around
the world by lifting market prices globally.
More
sites threatened and targeted
After the
South Pars attack, Iran’s state media warned that swathes of prominent regional
oil and gas targets belonging to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar were now
“direct and legitimate targets” and should be evacuated before attacks began
“within hours”.
These
include Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery, near the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and the
Jubail petrochemical complex, as well as the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield and Qatar’s
Mesaieed petrochemical complex.
“So far,
Iran has largely followed through on its stated actions, which makes this a
highly credible threat,” according to Aditya Saraswat, of the consultancy
Rystad Energy.
The Saudi
defence ministry confirmed a drone attack on the Samref refinery on Thursday.
It has intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards Yanbu, which is Saudi
Arabia’s only outlet for crude exports amid Iran’s stranglehold on the strait
of Hormuz.
Kuwait’s
Mina al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries were also targeted by drones,
resulting in fires at both sites, according to Kuwait’s state news agency.
Meanwhile,
at the UAE’s Habshan complex, another of the world’s largest gas processing
facilities, falling debris from intercepted missiles caused the facility to
shut down, according to the state oil and gas giant Adnoc. The company said its
Bab oilfield was also targeted.
Market
reaction
Gas
markets surged in response to the strikes, with the European benchmark quickly
climbing 30% higher as the trading day began to double the pre-crisis market
price and reach the highest level since early 2023.
“We are
now well on the road to the doomsday gas crisis scenario,” said Saul Kavonic,
the head of research at the consultancy MST Marquee. He warned that the LNG
supply disruption could last for months or even years once the war ends,
depending the extent of the damage, keeping gas prices high.
The risk
of prolonged military aggression and long-term damage to the region’s energy
production facilities have compounded fears in the global oil markets, which
are still reeling from the greatest energy supply shock in history after the
shutdown of the strait of Hormuz.
The price
of Brent crude, the international benchmark, is expected to breach the $120 a
barrel mark in the immediate aftermath, according to Rystad Energy analysts,
with further price rises possible depending on the severity of the damage
sustained.
Donald
Trump has warned Iran against further attacks on Qatar’s LNG facilities,
threatening to “massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars gasfield”.
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