Explosion leaves 18 missing and dozens injured at key gas facility in Qatar | World News

Eighteen people are missing and more than 50 people are injured after an explosion at a key Qatar gas facility previously targeted by Iranian strikes.

Authorities said a “technical accident” during start-up operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar’s main liquified natural gas (LNG) processing site, led to an explosion and fire on Sunday.

The blast at the Barzan local gas supply facility left 54 people injured with a search underway for 18 missing people, Qatar’s Interior Ministry said.

The ministry said there was no threat to public safety.

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The explosion rattled windows in central Doha, panicking residents more than 40 miles away.

Emergency services rushed to the scene and the blaze is now under control.

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Ed Conway explains what halting Qatar’s gas production means for the UK.

At the beginning of the Iran war in March, two of Qatar’s LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquid facilities were damaged in strikes.

Qatar said it knocked out 17% of the country’s export capacity with the repairs expected to take up to five years.

QatarEnergy did not say whether Sunday’s explosion caused any damage to the plant, which supplies gas to the domestic market.

But there was a response to the explosion on financial markets when trading got underway on Monday.

The potential loss of the facility for an extended period pushed up wholesale natural gas prices by 4%.

In the UK market, prices for month-ahead delivery rose almost 2% but were still 10% lower in June to date.

The Barzan gas facility has a capacity of 1.4billion cubic feet per day and supplies pipeline gas to local industries and Qatar’s power generation sector.

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It can also produce ethane, condensate, liquefied petroleum gas, and sulphur for domestic and export markets.

Ras Laffan, where it is located, is QatarEnergy’s primary site for LNG production and export with a total production capacity of 77million metric tons per annum via 14 trains.