Qatar has sounded the alarm over growing threats to its energy infrastructure after Israeli strikes reportedly hit the Iranian portion of the world’s largest natural gas field, which spans the maritime border between the two nations in the Persian Gulf. According to a Reuters report, Qatari officials held urgent meetings this week with top executives from major global energy firms, including ExxonMobil, to warn of the risks posed by rising regional tensions and to call for intervention by Western governments.
Qatar’s energy minister, Saad Al Kaabi—who also serves as the CEO of state-owned QatarEnergy—has urged companies to press the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union to take the threat seriously. The shared gas field, called South Pars on the Iranian side and North Dome on the Qatari side, contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, accounting for roughly 8% of the world’s total reserves.
Development of Qatar’s portion of the field began in the 1990s, and it has since become the backbone of the country’s economy and its rise to dominance in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. Qatar now supplies around 20% of the world’s LNG, and any disruption to its operations would send shockwaves through global energy markets already strained by instability.
The situation is particularly concerning due to the involvement of Western energy giants in Qatar’s ongoing LNG expansion projects, making the threat not only a regional issue but a potential crisis with broad international economic implications. With the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifying, Qatar is clearly signaling that the fallout could extend far beyond the battlefield—threatening one of the most strategically vital energy assets on the planet.
