Iran attack wipes out 17% of Qatar’s LNG capacity: QatarEnergy CEO

Published 19 Mar, 2026 07:20pm 2 min read

Iranian attacks have knocked out 17% of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export ​capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue and threatening supplies ‌to Europe and Asia, QatarEnergy’s CEO told Reuters on Thursday.

Saad al-Kaabi said two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities were damaged in the unprecedented strikes. ​The repairs will sideline 12.8 million tons per year of LNG for ​three to five years, he said.

“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,” Kaabi said in an interview.

Hours earlier, Iran had aimed a series of attacks at Gulf oil and gas facilities after Israeli attacks on its own gas infrastructure.

State-owned QatarEnergy may ​have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts for up to five years ​for LNG supplies bound for Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China due to the two damaged ‌trains, ⁠Kaabi said.

“I mean, these are long-term contracts that we have to declare force majeure. We already declared, but that was a shorter term. Now it’s whatever the period is,” he said.

EXXONMOBIL IMPACT AND BYPRODUCTS

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil is a partner in ​the damaged LNG facilities.

The ​Texas-based firm holds ⁠a 34% stake in LNG train S4 and a 30% stake in train S6, Kaabi said.

The fallout extends well beyond LNG. ​Qatar’s exports of condensate will drop by around 24%, while ​liquefied petroleum ⁠gas (LPG) will fall 13%. Helium output will fall 14%, and naphtha and sulphur will both drop by 6%.

The damaged units cost approximately $26 billion to build, Kaabi said.

QatarEnergy had declared ⁠force ​majeure on its entire output of LNG after ​earlier attacks on its Ras Laffan production hub.

“For production to restart, first we need hostilities to cease,” he ​said.

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