Crude prices skyrocket by 10% following attack on Qatari energy facilities amid Middle East conflict

Oil prices surged by 10 percent on Thursday, triggered by Qatar's report of "extensive" damage to the world's largest liquefied natural gas facility, which was struck by Iranian attacks, thereby fueling concerns about global energy supplies.

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The price of European gas also skyrocketed by 35 percent after Tehran launched retaliatory attacks on Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG facility, which is a massive energy hub, in response to an Israeli strike on Iran's South Pars gas field on Wednesday.

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US President Donald Trump stated that Washington was unaware of the Israeli strike on South Pars, which is part of the world's largest natural gas reservoir, but he warned that the United States would "blow up" the Iranian gas field if Tehran continued to attack Qatar.

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Qatar, one of the world's top liquefied natural gas producers, alongside the United States, Australia, and Russia, has seen its Ras Laffan facility repeatedly targeted by Iran since the war began, with state-run QatarEnergy reporting "sizeable fires and extensive further damage" to several LNG facilities on Thursday.

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The energy prices had already increased significantly since the threat of Iranian attacks brought tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a near standstill, and analysts noted that the targeting of energy production facilities marks a significant escalation.

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French President Emmanuel Macron warned of a "reckless escalation" on Thursday, stating that the destruction of Middle Eastern energy "production capacities themselves" would have a lasting impact on the war, and he called for "direct talks between the Americans and Iranians on this matter".

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The attack on Qatar's energy hub "marks a significant escalation in the Middle East war," according to Theresa Fallon, director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies, who wrote that the economic effect will likely be felt for years.

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Strikes were also reported on energy infrastructure in Kuwait, where two oil refineries were hit by drones, and Saudi Arabia, with Saudi Arabia reserving the "right to take military actions" if necessary after repeated missile and drone attacks from Iran.

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The defence ministry in Saudi Arabia said a drone crashed into the Samref refinery in the industrial zone of the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and damage assessment was underway, following the attack on Iran's South Pars gas field, which supplies around 70 percent of the country's domestic natural gas.

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Gulf nations had strongly criticised the attack on Iran's South Pars gas field, which is part of the South Pars/North Dome megafield, the largest known gas reserve in the world that is shared with Qatar, with Qatar calling the attack "dangerous and irresponsible" and the UAE offering a rare rebuke, calling it a "dangerous escalation".

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The UAE foreign ministry stated that "targeting energy infrastructure poses a direct threat to global energy security" after Iran's retaliatory attack on Qatar's Ras Laffan hub, which led to Qatar ordering Iran's military and security attaches along with their staff to leave the country.

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Iran's supreme leader was killed at the start of the war, and Israel this week killed national security chief Ali Larijani and intelligence chief Esmail Khatib as part of a long-standing strategy to take out their enemies' leaders, with new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowing retaliation.

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Mojtaba Khamenei posted a message on his official Telegram channel late Wednesday, stating that "every drop of spilled blood comes at a price, and the criminal murderers of these martyrs will soon have to pay it", as a US-based rights group reported more than 3,000 people killed in Iran by the US-Israeli strikes.

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US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that the Iranian government remained "intact but largely degraded", despite Tehran continuing to unleash missile and drone attacks across the Middle East.

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In the Iranian capital on Thursday, there was little indication of a country at war, with the city centre filled with traffic jams and street vendors, but the security presence was greater than usual, with heavily armed security forces and armoured vehicles visible on certain thoroughfares.

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Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, stated that "the conflict is drifting into a war of attrition — with no clear signs of regime collapse in Iran", and he noted that the attacks on the gas facilities underscored gaps between Israel and Washington on how to proceed.

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Trump said in a social media post late Wednesday that Israel had "violently lashed out" in "anger" in attacking the Iran gas hub, and he warned that the US "will massively blow up the entirety" of the field if Iran continues to attack Qatar, while Citrinowicz noted that the campaign lacked strategic clarity, long-term planning, and a defined end state.