A fatal explosion at Qatar's Ras Laffan gas facility has killed at least 13 people and injured 66 workers, according to the interior ministry. The blast occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility in the evening hours of Sunday, June 21, causing the city's skyline to turn orange. As per QatarEnergy, the explosion occurred as workers were restarting operations that were previously halted in March 2026 following Iranian attacks. The facility, which is the world's largest LNG export facility, was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year during the US-Israel war with Iran. QatarEnergy confirmed that emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the fire, which is now under control. However, the energy minister indicated it would be difficult to determine when operations would resume.
Pakistan has reversed its energy strategy, issuing an urgent request for LNG cargo delivery between June 30 and July 4 from BP Plc at $16.74 per million British thermal units, according to a tender seen by Bloomberg. This purchase price exceeded Asia's spot LNG levels, which were trading in the $15s per million Btu range on the same day. The state-owned energy authority Pakistan LNG made this decision as strained Qatari exports and wider supply uncertainty began to impact the country's energy security. The latest developments come as Pakistan faces what reports describe as a $5.6 billion financial crisis tied to its energy imports.
The emergency purchase comes after Qatar's LNG exports through the Strait of Hormuz have effectively halted following Iranian attacks on Qatar's Ras Laffan gas facility in March 2026. The facility damage destroyed an estimated 17% of Qatar's LNG export capacity - 12.8 million tonnes per year, with repairs projected to take three to five years. QatarEnergy declared force majeure on select long-term contracts, creating an estimated $20 billion annual revenue loss. The blast occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility, which was intentionally completely stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements and was only restarted again two days prior to the explosion. The facility's restart had been part of efforts to resume operations after the March disruptions.
The Qatar disruption has fundamentally shifted the global LNG market from surplus to deficit, with Qatar exporting 81.2 million tonnes of LNG in 2025, representing 18.8% of global LNG shipments. As per Energy Intelligence, this represents a 'complete shift of the global supply-demand balance by a couple of years'. Morgan Stanley warned that any extension of the outage beyond one month quickly brings a global deficit. Pakistan, which entered 2026 with an LNG surplus and weak domestic demand creating a comfortable buffer, found its supply cut to near zero overnight. The country's LNG imports fell from $226 million in the prior March to $70 million - a 69% drop in one month.
The latest purchase comes against a backdrop of earlier supply interruptions and rising import costs. A previously cancelled Qatari shipment forced Pakistan LNG Ltd to turn to emergency spot tenders, with LNG bought at $19.1337 per million British thermal units from BP Plc, marking the highest price Pakistan has paid since 2022. The country now faces a 4,000-megawatt electricity shortfall and has been forced back to the spot LNG market for the first time in nearly three years. Spot LNG is priced at $22 to $25 per million British thermal units in April 2026, versus Pakistan's former contract rate of roughly $16/MMBtu, creating a 50-60% premium on emergency gas purchases. The IEEFA published a June analysis titled 'Breaking Pakistan's LNG Dependence Cycle' as the country confronts what reports describe as a $5.6 billion financial crisis tied to its energy imports.
