CEO Saad al-Kaabi says QatarEnergy may have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts of up to five years.
Published on 19 March 2026
QatarEnergy’s CEO says Iranian attacks on Qatar have knocked out 17 percent of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion loss in annual revenue and threatening supplies to Europe and Asia.
Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters news agency on Thursday that two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains, equipment used to liquefy natural gas, and one of its two gas-to-liquids facilities were damaged in Iranian attacks this week.
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He said the repair would sideline 12.8 million tonnes of LNG production per year for three to five years.
“I never dreamed that Qatar – Qatar and the region – would be under such an attack, especially in the month of Ramadan from a brotherly Muslim country, attacking us in this way,” al-Kaabi said in an interview.
His comments came hours after Iran launched a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf region on Wednesday, after Israeli forces bombed its South Pars offshore gas field.
Tehran has been firing missiles and drones across the Middle East in response to the United States-Israeli war over Iran, which began on February 28.
It has also essentially blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Gulf waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supplies transit, raising global concerns about rising gasoline prices and rising inflation.
Iran’s attacks on energy infrastructure have heightened tensions with its Arab Gulf neighbors, who have condemned the attacks as a violation of international law.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday his country would show “zero restraint” if its infrastructure was attacked again as Israel continued to condemn the Israeli attack on the South Pars gasfield.
“Our response to the Israeli attack on our infrastructure included a measure of our force. The only reason for restraint was respect for the requested de-escalation,” Araghchi wrote on X.
“Any end to this war must address the damage caused to our civilian sites.”
‘Stay away from oil and gas facilities’
During a Thursday interview with Reuters, Al-Kaabi said QatarEnergy may have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts of up to five years for LNG supplies to Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China because of the two damaged trains.
“I mean, these are long-term contracts that we have to declare force majeure. We already declared, but that was a short period. Now it’s whatever period it is,” he said.
QatarEnergy had declared force majeure on its entire production of LNG following earlier attacks on its Ras Laffan production facility, which came under fire again on Wednesday. “To resume production, first we need to end hostilities,” al-Kaabi said.
Al-Kaabi said it cost about $26 billion to rebuild the damaged units. He also told Reuters that the scale of damage caused by the attacks had set the region back 10 to 20 years.
He said, “If Israel attacks Iran, it is between Iran and Israel. It has nothing to do with us or the region.”
“And so now, in addition, I’m saying that everybody in the world, whether it’s Israel, whether it’s America, whether it’s any other country, everybody should stay away from oil and gas facilities.”
