Iranian aerial attacks since Wednesday have caused extensive damage to the world's largest gas plant in Qatar, targeted ⁠a refinery in Saudi Arabia, forced the UAE to shut gas facilities and set off fires at two Kuwaiti refineries.

Tehran's retaliation against Israeli attacks on its own gas facilities marks a further escalation of the nearly three-week war.

On Thursday, a drone fell on the Aramco-Exxon refinery, Sanref, the Saudi defence ministry said, adding damage was being assessed.

It also intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards Yanbu, the port city that is currently Saudi Arabia's only outlet for crude exports and where the refinery is located.

Also on Thursday, one of the operational units at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's Mina al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries was targeted by drones, resulting in fires at both sites, the country's state news agency said.

Qatar's state oil giant QatarEnergy said on Wednesday that Iranian missile attacks on Ras Laffan, the site of the country's core LNG processing operations, caused "extensive damage", while the UAE shut gas facilities after intercepting missiles early on Thursday.

The Iranian attacks, which ⁠drew a furious response from US President Donald Trump, came hours after Tehran issued evacuation warnings for several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the ⁠UAE and Qatar, following strikes on its ⁠own energy infrastructure in South Pars and Asaluyeh.

QatarEnergy, the world's second-largest LNG exporter, said in a statement that its emergency response team was deployed immediately to contain fires caused by the attack.

By early Thursday, all fires at Ras Laffan had been brought under control, with ⁠no injuries reported, Qatar's interior ministry said.

"We are currently assessing any potential impact on any asset operated or utilised by Shell in Ras Laffan Industrial City and will provide further information in due course," a Shell spokesperson said.

The energy major has a 30 percent stake in a 7.8-million-tonnes-a-year LNG facility and investments in yet-to-produce LNG plants at Ras Laffan.

It also fully owns the Pearl ⁠gas-to-liquids plant in the hub, with capacity to process up to 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of wellhead gas.

QatarEnergy said the Pearl gas-to-liquids facility had suffered extensive damage.

Several LNG facilities were hit by missile attacks in the early hours of Thursday, causing "sizeable fires" and further damage, it said. (Reuters)



Edited by Tony Sabine