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Iranian Missile Strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Halts 17% LNG Output, Surges European Gas Prices

Iranian Missile Strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Halts 17% LNG Output, Surges European Gas Prices
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European gas prices surged as much as 35% on Thursday after Iranian missiles struck Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, severely damaging the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hub and wiping out an estimated 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity for up to five years bloomberg +1. Benchmark Dutch TTF futures briefly jumped above €70–74 per megawatt hour, more than double pre‑war levels, as traders scrambled to reprice supply risks heading into next winter msn +1.

The attack on Ras Laffan came after Israel hit Iran’s South Pars gas field a day earlier, triggering a rapid escalation in a conflict that has increasingly centered on strategic energy infrastructure across the Gulf timesofindia. QatarEnergy reported “extensive damage” to two LNG trains and a gas‑to‑liquids unit, saying around 12.8 million tonnes per year of LNG output had been knocked offline and warning that some long‑term supply contracts could be under force majeure for three to five years oilprice.

How the Qatar Strike Shook Europe’s Gas Market

Qatar supplies about 20% of global LNG, and Ras Laffan is the backbone of that trade, meaning even a partial outage reverberated quickly through European hubs that now rely heavily on seaborne gas after cutting Russian pipeline imports bloomberg +1. European futures spiked up to 35% in intraday trade, with the Dutch TTF benchmark jumping to around €74/MWh before paring gains, while analysts noted that prices are now more than 100% higher than at the start of the year msn +2.

Traders cited fears that replacing 12.8 million tonnes a year of Qatari supply would be “almost impossible” in the short term without triggering a bidding war with Asian buyers, pushing spot LNG prices higher worldwide oilprice +1. Power prices in gas‑dependent countries such as Italy and parts of Eastern Europe climbed faster than in northwest Europe, underscoring uneven vulnerability within the bloc businessinsider. Some analysts warned the shock could reignite inflation pressures and complicate European Central Bank plans for rate cuts, as energy once again becomes a key driver of headline prices tbsnews.

Diplomatic Fallout and the Risk of Further Escalation

Qatar condemned the strike as a “direct threat” to national security, expelled Iranian military and security attachés, and signaled it would prioritize restoring security over rapid production restarts bloomberg. QatarEnergy chief Saad al‑Kaabi said repairs to the damaged LNG trains could take three to five years and stressed that “for production to restart, first we need hostilities to cease” oilprice. The long repair window raised the stakes of any further attacks on Gulf energy nodes, including shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The political temperature rose further when U.S. President Donald Trump warned on social media that the United States would “massively blow up the entirety” of Iran’s South Pars gas field if Tehran hit Qatar again, a threat that drew sharp criticism from de‑escalation advocates who fear energy infrastructure is becoming a primary battlefield nytimes. EU leaders meeting in Brussels rushed to discuss “quick fixes” to shield households and industry from soaring bills, including emergency support schemes and possible tweaks to market rules, even as they acknowledged the bloc remains exposed to external supply shocks ft.

The Bigger Picture

The damage at Ras Laffan underscored how central the Gulf’s gas infrastructure has become to Europe’s post‑Russia energy strategy, and how fragile that new architecture is in the face of military escalation. With nearly a fifth of Qatar’s LNG exports offline for years and no easy replacement in sight, Europe faces a prolonged period of higher and more volatile gas prices, renewed competition with Asia, and fresh pressure on governments to accelerate both demand reduction and alternative energy investments bloomberg +2.