Qatar Gas Terminal Explosion Update: Death Toll Rises to 13

A massive explosion rocked Qatar’s main liquefied natural gas export terminal on Sunday evening local time, triggering a large fire that killed at least 13 workers and injured 66 others amid recovery efforts following a bombing by the Iranian military. The disaster at the Ras Laffan industrial complex has the potential to spark fresh turmoil in global energy markets, given Qatar’s status as one of the world’s largest natural gas producers. Doha had previously been forced to halt all production due to a tight Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which severed delivery routes to international customers. As Tehran’s grip on the strait eased following ongoing peace negotiations, Qatar moved swiftly to reactivate its export terminal. However, the restart process triggered a fatal explosion at the Barzan gas facility, state-owned enterprise QatarEnergy confirmed. “I want to stress that this incident was purely a technical accident, not an act of sabotage or an enemy attack,” Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi stated at a press conference in Doha on Monday afternoon. Al-Kaabi detailed that all of the deceased were migrant workers from India and Pakistan, while the 66 injured comprised Qatari nationals and various workers from several African and Asian countries. The full scale of structural damage to the facility remains unknown. The Barzan plant has a massive production capacity of nearly 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of commercial gas per day, a supply crucial for domestic stability as it serves as the primary fuel for local power plants and drives water desalination facilities in the desert Arabian Peninsula. The plant is almost entirely owned by the Qatari government, with a small stake held by US oil giant ExxonMobil. Last March, Iranian missiles struck Ras Laffan, causing extensive damage and forcing Qatar to suspend operations for safety reasons before this weekend’s incident occurred.