In brief
At least thirteen people were killed and 66 injured following a technical accident at Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG facility on June 21. The blast, which lit up the desert sky, was caused by a mishap as workers were restarting operations after a prolonged shutdown. Energy Minister Saad al‑Kaabi confirmed there was no sabotage and that export output would not be disrupted, although production remains halted and will take time to resume. An investigation has begun, and the officials said all the fatalities were workers from India and Pakistan.
At least 13 people have been killed and 66 injured after an explosion at Qatar’s largest gas facility.
The city’s main liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing site suffered a "technical accident" in Ras Laffan industrial zone on Sunday night, the interior ministry said, with the city’s skyline turning orange because of the explosion.
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al‑Kaabi said the explosion would not affect the country’s exports, adding "this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature".
The Ras Laffan Port, the largest artificial harbour in the world, hosts the world’s largest LNG export facility. It was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year.
The blast rattled windows and was felt across central Doha, panicking residents more than 70 km away from Ras Laffan.
Al‑Kaabi added the government was working on determining the cause of the blast which occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility, and that there were no environmental risks. However, he said it would be difficult to determine when operations would resume.
"Plant production was intentionally stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements; it was first restarted again only two days ago," al‑Kaabi said.
An investigation has begun into the cause of the accident and Sherida al‑Kaabi confirmed those killed were all from India and Pakistan.
The Embassy of India in Doha said it was in constant touch with the Qatari authorities and will render all help to the families of those who lost their lives or have been injured.
"We convey our deepest condolences to the families of those who have unfortunately passed away in the sad incident at Ras Laffan Industrial City last night," the embassy said in a post on X.
On Sunday, QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy company, confirmed the explosion occurred at "Barzan local gas supply facility" in the evening hours of Sunday 21 June. "Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the fire, which is now under control," it said.
The blast occurred as workers were restarting operations that had previously been halted in March.
During the US‑Israel war with Iran, the Ras Laffan Port suffered "extensive damage" from retaliatory strikes as Qatar is a major supplier of global energy. QatarEnergy said the required repairs to the facility would reduce output by 12.8 m tons of LNG for three to five years.
Qatar had halted production in response to the conflict, pausing a fifth of the world’s LNG. Shipments had begun to resume recently.
