Qatar’s Ministry of Interior reported an ’internal explosion’ at the Barzan gas plant in the Ras Laffan Industrial City LNG production facilitythat injured at least 54, with 18 missing
Qatar’s government has said that it is conducting search and rescue efforts in an attempt to find 18 people listed as missing after an explosion at the world’s largest LNG export facility.
State-owned QatarEnergy said an explosion and fire occured during “the start-up of operations” at Ras Laffan Industrial City’s Barzan local gas supply facility, in the evening hours (local time) on Sunday, 21 June, 2026.
An initial statement from Qatar’s interior ministry about the incident had reported no injuries or leaks and said only that “an internal explosion” had occurred at a factory in Ras Laffan Industrial City “due to a technical incident”.
Ras Laffan was the target of destructive strikes from Iran during the early weeks of a war that began with 28 February 2026 strikes on Iran by the US and Israel and quickly escalated.
The Qatari Ministry of Interior later announced that the explosion at Ras Laffan was caused by a “technical malfunction” that had left multiple people injured.
A more recent update said the total number of injured persons in the incident had reached 54, with several people still missing.
“The Qatar International Search and Rescue Group of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), in cooperation with Civil Defence teams, is conducting search operations for 18 missing persons,” the ministry said on X (formerly Twitter).
QatarEnergy also confirmed the incident, saying that a fire from the explosion had been brought under control.
“QatarEnergy confirms that there was an operational incident during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City which resulted in an explosion and fire at Barzan local gas supply facility in the evening hours of Sunday 21 June 2026.
Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the fire, which is now under control,” the state-owned company said.
Force majeure background and analyst estimates on resumption of production at Ras Laffan
Missile attacks launched by Iran more than two weeks into the war in mid-March damaged two LNG-producing trains at the world’s largest LNG export facility, Ras Laffan, curtailing 12.8M tonnes per annum (mta) of production, or approximately 17% of Qatar’s LNG exports.
Declaring ’long term’ force majeure at the time, QatarEnergy estimated damage to its Ras Laffan LNG export facility will cost US$20Bn in lost revenue and take up to five years to repair.
Analysis by Rystad Energy in late March 2026 pointed to inherent fragility in the manufacturing supply chain for LNG terminal components as a key consideration for estimating the extent of cost and supply disruption energy markets are likely to face from war-damaged energy infrastructure in the Middle East.
Rystad’s conclusion at the time was that ’capital alone will not be sufficient’ to bring Qatar LNG’s damaged Ras Laffan facilities back online.
Estimates from analysts at market intelligence firm Rystad Energy highlighted the complexity of repairs and restoration for the energy facilities damaged or destroyed by strikes in the war between allies the US and Israel, and Iran.
Rystad put the cost for energy infrastructure and repair at “at least US$25Bn”.
The lion’s share of the cost and time to repair is taken up by damage and shutdowns affecting liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains at Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the Rystad assessment said.
Rystad analysts said the timeline is dictated by integral parts needed for repair that are made in a limited number of specialist facilities that all have long lead times for fabrication.
While acknowledging the impacts of the Strait of Hormuz blockades, Rystad Energy head of supply chain research Audun Martinesen pointed to the long-term potential setbacks from the damaged facilities.
“Every day of damaged or shut-in infrastructure pushes [the return to] prewar production capacity further out of reach,” he said, noting that, with urgent repairs likely taking precedence above other initiatives, the impacts from the damage to facilities at Ras Laffan are likely to hamper Qatar’s expansion plans, longer-term.
Italy’s Edison, a division of French energy group EDF, said it has received multiple force majeure extensions from QatarEnergy on a long-term offtake agreement between the two companies.
Since QatarEnergy initially declared force majeure on 20 March, 2026, Edison has said it has replaced nine of the 17 lost cargoes, to date, and “does not expect any impact on its end customers”.
QatarEnergy has not commented on the extended disruption notices reported by Edison.
