Explosion at Qatar LNG Facility Kills 13, Injures 66

An explosion at Qatar's largest liquefied natural gas processing site killed at least 13 people and injured 66 others on Sunday night. The blast occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility inside the Ras Laffan industrial zone, the interior ministry said. Flames turned the skyline orange and the shockwave rattled windows across central Doha more than 70 km away.

13 workers killed were from India and Pakistan, Qatar's energy minister said. Emergency teams contained the fire within hours. QatarEnergy stated that response crews were deployed immediately and the fire is now under control.

Sherida al-Kaabi said the incident was a technical accident, not sabotage. He added that the government is still determining the exact cause. The facility had been shut for maintenance since December 2025 and restarted only two days before the blast. The minister said it is too early to predict when full operations will resume.

The minister stated that exports will not be affected.

QatarEnergy said required repairs will reduce output by 12.8 million tons of LNG over three to five years. The Ras Laffan Port had sustained extensive damage earlier this year during the US-Israel conflict with Iran, prompting Qatar to pause a fifth of global LNG shipments before recent restarts.