Iran’s strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan could impact some of QatarEnergy’s LNG supplies to India

QatarEnergy’s primary LNG production units, liquefaction plants, and export infrastructure are all concentrated in Ras Laffan, making it the world’s largest LNG hub that accounts for roughly a fifth of global LNG supply. The attacks by Iran damaged two LNG producing trains totaling 12.8 mtpa of production, representing approximately 17% of Qatar’s LNG exports, and could take up to five years to repair, QatarEnergy said in a statement.

Although QatarEnergy has so far not specifically mentioned the impact on supplies to India, there have been concerns that long-term LNG flows to India could be impacted. With LNG from Qatar and other sources in West Asia unable to come to India due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and production suspension by QatarEnergy, India had already cut natural gas supplies to certain industries.

“The damage sustained by the LNG facilities will take between three to five years to repair. The impact is on China, South Korea, Italy and Belgium. This means that we will be compelled to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts,” Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, was quoted as saying in the company statement. Industry sources in India expect the curtailment in LNG supplies, if any, from Qatar to not be too significant, since the specific LNG trains from where LNG is supplied to India were not damaged in the recent strikes.

QatarEnergy has an LNG production capacity of 77 million tonnes per annum, which is under expansion. In 2025, QatarEnergy exported around 81 million tonnes of LNG. The strikes on Ras Laffan could cost QatarEnergy about $20 billion a year in lost revenue, the company said. The attacks also targeted a gas-to-liquids facility, which converts natural gas into drop-in fuels and produces base oils used to make premium engine oils and lubricants, and paraffins and waxes.

The attack on Ras Laffan came just hours after Israel hit the world’s largest natural gas field South Pars—which Iran shares with Qatar. These attacks have marked a major escalation in the raging conflict in West Asia, with specific energy infrastructure now being targeted, raiding prolonged supply disruption risks. LNG production at the facility had already been suspended by Qatar following an attack—evidently smaller in scale than the recent strikes—earlier this month. Experts had been expecting LNG flows from Ras Laffan to be reinstated rather quickly once the conflict subsided, but with the latest strikes by Iran, those hopes have been dashed.

Beyond LNG, India, like some other countries dependent on West Asia for a bulk of their energy imports, would be extremely worried at the prospect of escalation in attacks on critical energy infrastructure in West Asia. So far, the supply disruption due to the conflict was largely a supply chain problem due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as numerous tankers carrying energy supplies are stuck in the Persian Gulf with only a few managing to trickle out. But in the next phase of this raging conflict, if major oil and production and export infrastructure get badly hit, it will become a real supply crisis.