Blast during restart at giant Qatar LNG site killed 13
An explosion at Qatar’s giant Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas complex killed 13 people and injured dozens as workers resumed operations halted after Iran’s attack in March.
A “technical accident” occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility on Sunday evening, officials said.
Home to a major US military base, Qatar was repeatedly subjected to Iranian missile and drone attacks during the Iran war; these attacks trapped about 20 percent of global LNG supply in the Gulf before some shipments began to resume recently.
In the statement made by the Qatar Ministry of Energy, it was stated that 13 people died and 66 people were injured.
It was stated that the export capacity of the facility was not affected and there was no risk to the environment.
QatarEnergy did not provide detailed information about where the explosion took place in the facility or the extent of the damage, but QatarEnergy CEO and Qatar Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said that an investigation into the incident was launched.
The explosion shook windows and was felt in central Doha, sending residents more than 70 km away from Ras Laffan into panic.
The incident highlights the difficulties Gulf producers face in increasing oil and gas production from facilities closed during the Iran war.
Qatar is among the countries most affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as it has no alternative routes to export LNG.
Restarting LNG operations is a particularly complex process due to deliberate slowing of cooling to avoid thermal shock.
LNG trains cannot be restarted at the same time and must be brought back sequentially.
Cooling is the most critical step in the liquefaction process, where the gas is converted into a liquid by cooling it to approximately minus 162°C.
The facility is located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, QatarEnergy’s LNG production and export site with an annual production capacity of 77 million mt.
Iran’s missile attack in March hit two of Qatar’s key gas processing units, reducing about 17 percent of Qatar’s LNG export capacity. QatarEnergy’s CEO told Reuters it would take three to five years to fix.
The war also forced the company to lay off nearly 10,000 workers from offshore platforms and onshore processing facilities.
The company reported no injuries in the missile attack in March.
