A major explosion at a gas processing facility in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City has injured 54 people and left 18 others missing, according to local authorities.
The incident occurred late Sunday during start-up operations at the Barzan LNG project, sending flames into the night sky and triggering an emergency response.
The facility is a critical component of Qatar’s strategy to increase production to 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027.
Rescue teams are currently searching for the missing individuals while assessing the extent of the damage to the infrastructure.
The blast represents a significant operational setback for QatarEnergy, which has been working to bring the Barzan project online to expand its liquefied natural gas export capacity.
The facility is a critical component of Qatar’s strategy to increase production to 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027.
Any prolonged shutdown or damage to the liquefaction trains could delay the ramp-up of new supply, tightening the market for Asian buyers who rely heavily on Qatari LNG.