The massive explosion that happened at Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial area, the key natural gas export terminal, has injured over 54 people, but officials fear much greater casualties as there is no word about 18 people, who were still missing hours later. Ras Laffan is one of the world’s top natural gas producers and resumed operations just a few days ago after Qatar shut it down following Iranian strikes.
According to Qatar’s Ministry of Interior (MoI), the “internal explosion” occurred on Sunday night at the Barzan local gas supply facility, one of the factories in the Ras Laffan Industrial City, following a technical incident, with civil defence teams responding.
"The incident was caused by a technical malfunction during operations at a factory in Ras Laffan Industrial City. A number of injuries were reported, with no leaks posing a threat to public safety. The competent authorities are continuing to respond to the incident."
While the initial statement made no mention of deaths, a later statement confirmed that the rescue operation for the missing 18 people was on. “The total number of injured in the incident has reached 54,”the ministry added.
The MoI has not yet given the details of what caused the explosion, but speculations are that the work to restart the operations sparked an explosion and fire at the Barzan gas supply facility.
The Barzan plant had a capacity of almost 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of sales gas per day. The gas produced there is mostly used for local electricity generation and to power its crucial water desalination plants.
Any obstruction in the Ras Laffan gas plants will have a widespread impact as it is home to LNG processing facilities, petrochemical plants, refineries, power stations, desalination facilities and export terminals that collectively support a large share of Qatar’s economy. It is from here that Qatar exports LNG to many countries, including India.
