Prices shot up after Iranian missile strikes on the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant in Qatar.
The damage in Qatar and earlier in a neighbouring Iranian field means analysts are now assessing assessing longer term disruption to supplies, even if the war in Iran ends quickly.
Rebuilding infrastructure could take months or even years, depending on the damage.
Qatar’s Ras Laffan plant was struck by Iran in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the vast South Pars fields on Wednesday.
Qatar and Iran are among the world’s top sources of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).
Benchmark gas futures jumped as much as 35pc on Thursday, pushing prices to more than double their pre-war levels.
European stock markets tumbled on the news. In Dublin the Iseq 20 index dropped more than 2pc.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.3pc at 590.43 points by 0809 GMT with industrials being the biggest drag on the benchmark.
London stocks were down 1% ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision.
QatarEnergy said several of the LNG facilities inside its Ras Laffan Industrial City were attacked by missiles, “causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage.”
“This could be a game changer for the LNG industry, akin to the attack on Nord Stream or possibly even worse,” said Susan Sakmar, visiting assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center. “This is a sudden disruption, with no indication that Qatar could restart anytime soon.”
President Donald Trump said in a social media post the US will retaliate if Qatar’s LNG facilities are attacked again.
On wholesale markets Dutch front-month futures, Europe’s gas benchmark, traded 22pc higher at €66.83 a megawatt-hour by 8:59 a.m. in Amsterdam.
Oil has also shifted higher, at $110 a barrel on Thursday, about 50pc dearer than pre-war levels. Those wholesale prices are set to be pushed on to industry and consumers, potentiallly rapidly, putting a squeeze on incomes and stoking inflation, a key concern for the European Central Bank (ECB) which is due to meet today for a rate setting meeting.
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