At least 13 people have been killed and dozens injured following an explosion at Qatar’s massive Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex, authorities said on Monday, describing the incident as a “technical accident”.
The blast occurred on Sunday evening at the Barzan local gas supply facility during restart operations that had been halted after earlier disruptions linked to the regional conflict.
Qatar’s Energy Ministry confirmed that 13 people died and 66 others were injured, adding that export operations were not affected and there was no environmental risk.
QatarEnergy CEO and Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the explosion.
The explosion rattled windows across central Doha and was reportedly felt more than 70 kilometres away from the industrial zone, causing panic among residents.
Officials did not immediately specify the exact location or scale of damage within the facility.
The incident comes at a sensitive time for Qatar’s energy sector, which has been working to restore output after earlier disruptions caused by regional tensions and missile attacks that had already damaged key gas-processing units in March, cutting a portion of LNG export capacity.
QatarEnergy has previously warned that repairs to damaged infrastructure could take several years due to the complexity of LNG processing systems and the careful procedures required to restart production safely.
Restarting LNG operations is a technically delicate process, as facilities must be cooled down gradually to extremely low temperatures before production can resume in sequence, making rapid recovery difficult after shutdowns.
The Ras Laffan Industrial City, home to QatarEnergy’s LNG infrastructure, is one of the world’s largest natural gas hubs with an annual production capacity of 77 million metric tons.
The incident adds further pressure to Gulf energy producers already managing disruptions caused by regional instability and earlier attacks on energy infrastructure, which had temporarily impacted global supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan’s embassy in Qatar expressed concern over the incident and said it “stands in solidarity with Qatar”.
