Qatar halted production of liquefied natural gas on Monday and Saudi Arabia shut down its largest refinery after a drone attack, officials said, as Israeli and U.S. attacks and Iranian retaliation triggered a precautionary shutdown of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East.
The wave of attacks on the region continued into a third day, resulting in the suspension of most oil production in Iraqi Kurdistan and several major Israeli gas fields, and restrictions on exports to Egypt.
Oil prices soared 13% to more than $82 a barrel, the highest since January 2025, as land transportation in the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows, has all but come to a standstill.
State oil giant Saudi Aramco’s 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ras Tanura refinery, which has been shut down as a precautionary measure, is part of the Saudi Arabian Gulf energy complex and also serves as a key export terminal for Saudi crude oil.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, which exported 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil via pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in February, companies including DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Dana Gas and HKNEnergy have suspended production at their fields as a precaution, and no damage has been reported. Off the coast of Israel, the Israeli government has instructed Chevron to temporarily close Leviathan, a giant gas field whose production capacity is being expanded to about 21 billion cubic meters a year as part of a $35 billion export deal to Egypt. A spokeswoman for Chevron, which also operates the Tamar gas field off the coast of Israel, said its facilities are safe.
Energian has suspended production vessels supplying small gas fields. Explosions were heard in Iran on Saturday on Kharg Island, which processes 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports. It is unclear how the facility was affected.
Iran is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ third largest producer, pumping about 4.5% of the world’s oil supply. Iran’s output is approximately 3.3 million barrels per day of crude oil and 1.3 million barrels per day of condensate and other liquids. The Qatari government said an energy facility belonging to gas giant Qatar Energy was attacked by two Iranian drones on Monday, and authorities are currently assessing the extent of the damage.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba; Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Writing by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Nadine Awadalla, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Susan Fenton)
