2 hours ago
- Iran attacked a Qatari LNG site, spiking oil and gas prices amid supply disruption fears.
- Oil prices soared past $110 per barrel, and Europe's benchmark gas prices surged 6%.
- Qatar condemned Iran's attack on Ras Laffan, calling it a threat to regional stability.
Oil and natural gas prices jumped after Israel struck a natural gas processing facility in southwestern Iran, and Iran retaliated by attacking a major liquid-natural-gas complex in Qatar, escalating fears over energy supply disruptions.
International benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose as much as 4.3% to $112 a barrel in early Asian trade on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.8% to $100.02 a barrel.
US natural gas futures surged 6.3% to $3.26 per metric million British thermal unit.
On Wednesday morning, Israel struck Iran's South Pars gas field, which is an offshore facility that Iran shares with Qatar, and is the largest such facility in the world. Shortly after, Iran hit Ras Laffan Industrial City.
The move follows prior warnings from Tehran about potential strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure, rattling markets already sensitive to geopolitical risk and raising concerns about further volatility in global energy supplies.
Qatar's Interior Ministry wrote on X on Wednesday that Civil Defense crews were tackling a fire at Ras Laffan Industrial City, a critical natural gas hub for the country's economy, "following an Iranian targeting."
The Foreign Ministry of Qatar said in a statement that the strike marks "a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of state sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security and regional stability."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest developments in the Israel-Iran conflict suggest it has entered a new phase, wrote Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho's head of macro research for Asia, excluding Japan.
Risks are shifting "from temporary disruptions to more lasting capacity destruction impairing the production and passage of oil and gas," Varathan wrote in a Thursday note.
That could keep oil and gas prices higher for longer as expectations of a ceasefire fade, he added.
