Shell Plant Attack Raises Gas Prices At Qatar Energy Site

Gas prices have soared to a three-year high and oil prices spiked after attacks on energy sites in Iran and Qatar damaged a Shell plant and stoked fears about disruption to global supplies.

US President Donald Trump said he did not authorise the targeting of energy facilities but threatened to “massively blow up” a key Iran gas field in retaliation if it continues its attacks.

UK natural gas prices spiked by more than 20% on Thursday morning to around 172p per therm, which is a unit of heat energy – the highest in three years.

The price of Brent crude oil was rising by about 8% to cross 115 US dollars a barrel.

This means it was closing in on the highest level since the conflict escalated at the end of February.

London’s stock markets opened to big losses, with the FTSE 100 Index tumbling by about 1.7% in the first hour of trading.

France’s Cac 40 was also falling by 1.7% while Germany’s top stock market index, the Dax, was facing steeper falls of about 2.4% in the morning.

Gas and oil prices were up sharply overnight after Qatar said on Thursday that Iranian missile attacks had hit its liquefied natural gas (LNG) field Ras Laffan, “causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage”.

British energy giant Shell said the attack caused damage to a facility that is important to the firm.

A spokesman said: “Yesterday’s attack on Ras Laffan Industrial City caused damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility.

“We put our emergency response into action, all essential staff who were on site are accounted for and no injuries were reported.

The fire was quickly put out and Pearl is now in a safe state.

“We are working in close co-ordination with the Qatari authorities and our partners at Qatar Energy to manage the situation and to assess the damage.”

The work at the plant involves converting gas into liquid products that include fuel for transport, motor oils and the ingredients for everyday goods such as plastics, detergents and cosmetics.

The fire was quickly put out and Pearl is now in a safe state.

“We are working in close co-ordination with the Qatari authorities and our partners at Qatar Energy to manage the situation and to assess the damage.”

The work at the plant involves converting gas into liquid products that include fuel for transport, motor oils and the ingredients for everyday goods such as plastics, detergents and cosmetics.

The attack in Qatar followed reports that Israel launched an attack against Iran’s South Pars gas field.

Mr Trump said he “knew nothing” of Israel’s strike and that he did not want to authorise “this level of violence and destruction”.

But he also pledged to “massively blow up the entirety” of Iran’s South Pars gas field if the nation attacks Qatar’s facilities again.

Qatar’s state-backed energy company Qatar Energy had halted production of LNG at its sites at the beginning of the month because of attacks on its facilities.

The Guardian