A bigger and longer crisis

Attacks on key oil and LNG assets across the Gulf mean a prolonged supply disruption, with damage to Qatar’s export capacity undermining confidence in the global gas system

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was already a major supply shock, but the direct targeting of energy infrastructure across the Mideast Gulf is raising fears of a far more prolonged and systemic crisis for global oil and gas markets. On 2 March, an Iranian drone struck Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery, the Kingdom’s largest, forcing a temporary shutdown despite limited physical damage. In the days that followed, drones also hit oil and gas facilities in Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, as Tehran expanded its campaign against critical infrastructure. For gas markets, the most significant escalation came on 18 March, when Israeli strikes hit Iran’s South Pars gas field—the backbone of the coun