Qatar says 54 injured, 18 missing after blast at its main LNG production facility

At least 54 people were injured and 18 others were missing after an explosion and fire at the Barzan gas supply facility in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City on Sunday, authorities said.

QatarEnergy said the incident occurred during start-up operations at the Barzan local gas supply facility. Emergency response teams were deployed and the fire has been brought under control, it said.

Qatar’s Interior Ministry said rescue teams were searching for 18 missing people. It described the explosion as a technical accident and said there was no threat to public safety.

QatarEnergy did not state whether the explosion had damaged the plant.

A Reuters witness reported hearing a loud boom in Doha, which is located south of the Ras Laffan facility.

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

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

Ras Laffan Industrial City is QatarEnergy’s main site for liquefied natural gas production and export, with total production capacity of 77 million metric tonnes per year through 14 trains.

Two of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids facilities were earlier damaged in strikes during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, affecting 17% of the country’s LNG export capacity, with repairs expected to take years.