Qatar’s Ras Laffan, Iran’s South Pars, and other Gulf energy hubs hit as West Asia conflict takes economic turn
In a series of high-stakes escalations that have sent global oil prices soaring, both sides and their regional neighbours are steadily getting locked in a conflict where the primary targets are no longer barracks and bunkers, but gas fields and refineries.
Also Read | Strikes hit world’s largest natural gas field in Iran, and Tehran retaliates with more attacks as West Asia war continues
From Qatar’s Ras Laffan to Iran’s South Pars and UAE’s Habsan oil fields to Saudi’s Shaybah refineries, the list of West Asian energy sites untouched by the fire of conflict is becoming increasingly shorter.
The “South Pars” spark
The transition to infrastructure warfare intensified following an Israeli strike on Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field.
While the Trump administration stated the US “knew nothing about this particular attack”, the strike targeted a pillar of Iranian energy. Analysts from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs noted that South Pars is central to Iran’s electricity and industrial activity, and even limited disruptions cause immediate economic strain.
“South Pars is central to Iran’s gas supply and, by extension, to electricity generation and industrial activity,” Hamidreza Azizi told Bloomberg by email. “Even limited or temporary disruptions can translate into power shortages, industrial slowdowns, and broader economic strain.”
Also Read | West Asia War: Qatari complex housing world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant suffers ‘extensive damage’ from Iranian strike
Iran’s response was swift and expanded the hand of war to neutral ground.
Iranian missiles struck Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s premier liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hub.
QatarEnergy confirmed that the attacks on Wednesday and early Thursday caused sizeable fires and extensive further damage, specifically hitting the Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) facility.
“In addition to the previous attack on Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday 18 March 2026 that resulted in extensive damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility, QatarEnergy confirms that in the early hours of Thursday 19 March 2026, several of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage,” the world’s second-largerst exporter said in an official statement.
Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting damage with no reported casualties.
In a diplomatic rupture, Qatar declared Iranian attaches persona non grata, ordering them to leave within 24 hours following what it called a flagrant violation of sovereignty and a direct threat to national security.
The Gulf’s dangerous escalation
The energy war has rapidly engulfed the broader Persian Gulf.
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities reported a dangerous escalation after falling debris from intercepted missiles forced the temporary shutdown of the Habshan gas facilities and the Bab oil field.
Further west, the Saudi Ministry of Defence reported neutralising a swarm of drones targeting the Shaybah oil field in the Empty Quarter desert.
Follow lives updates of the West Asia War
As Iran labels energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait as legitimate targets according to the Tasnim News Agency, the regional toll is mounting.
Iraq reported a loss of power generation after Iran halted gas supplies, while Kuwait announced arrests involving a group affiliated with Hezbollah that had allegedly foiled a plot to target vital facilities.
Tom Marzec-Manser of Wood Mackenzie Ltd told Bloomberg News that a retaliatory attack on Ras Laffan is exactly what the global natural gas market feared the most, noting there is no strategic reserve for LNG.
“A retaliatory attack on Ras Laffan is exactly what the global natural gas market feared the most… it’s going to be bullish for gas prices when the market opens on Thursday,” he said.
Trump issues warning as markets reel
The shift toward economic targets has pushed Brent crude prices up nearly 50% since the war’s inception, with oil trading above $112 a barrel.
As US gasoline prices hit a two-year high of $3.84 a gallon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump has issued a series of blunt warnings via social media.
While distancing the US from the initial South Pars strike, Trump warned that if Iran continues to target Qatar, the United States could massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars field.
“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“No more attacks will be made by Israel pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar – In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” the US President added.
This rhetoric follows the US military’s use of 5,000-pound munitions on Iranian missile sites last week near the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that remains largely impassable due to threats from mines and attack boats.
Despite the destruction of energy sites, the war’s human cost continues to climb with over 4,000 dead, the majority in Iran.
High-profile assassinations of Iranian leaders like Esmail Khatib and Ali Larijani have only hardened the resolve of both sides.
