The price of gas has risen sharply in the UK and Europe following an attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan energy complex.
In a strongly worded post, Donald Trump has warned Iran against further attacks in Qatar, after “extensive damage” to facilities there.
The US president also said the US “knew nothing” about Israel’s attack on the South Pars gas field in Iran on Wednesday.
Iran’s South Pars is part of the world’s largest natural gas field, with both Qatar and Iran operating facilities in the area – Israel is yet to comment.
Meanwhile, three women in the occupied West Bank were killed after shrapnel from an intercepted missile reportedly fell on a beauty salon, the Palestinian Red Crescent says.
Fire contained at Kuwait oil refinery after drone strike
A fire has broken out at an oil refinery in Kuwait after it was targeted by a drone strike, according to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) and Iranian state media.
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation says there were no injuries at the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery and the “limited fire” has been contained, KUNA reports.
Qatar sites huge importance to global energy markets
These strikes, in Iran and Qatar, mark one of the most significant escalations since the conflict began when it comes to energy infrastructure. Ras Laffan in Qatar is the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant.
Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company says it suffered “extensive damage” and its closure was enough to send energy prices shooting up – and markets sliding down.
Just north, in the Iranian part of the Gulf, is the South Pars gas field – which Donald Trump’s threatened to destroy “entirely” if Iranian attacks on Qatar persisted.
However, President Trump’s assurance that Israel wouldn’t attack South Pars, if Iran didn’t attack Qatar, points to an awareness of these sites’ huge importance to the world’s energy markets.
