An explosion at the Barzan domestic gas supply facility in the Ras Laffan industrial area, Qatar’s key natural gas export terminal, will not affect the emirate’s LNG exports, according to QatarEnergy, which operates the plant.
The 1.4 Bcf/D-capacity Barzan facility, which powers local electricity plants and desalinization facilities in the Arabian desert, had been offline since December, QatarEnergy said.
Thirteen workers died and 66 were injured during production restart after a scheduled maintenance shutdown. Those killed came from India and Pakistan. Those injured included nationals from Qatar and several African and Asian nations, Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said at a news conference in Doha the morning after the explosion, which occurred on 21 June at 10:30 p.m.
Explosion Was an Accident: Energy Minister
“This was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature … Plant production was intentionally completely stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements; it was first restarted again only 2 days ago,” Al Jazeera quoted al-Kaabi as saying.
“This will not affect in any way our exports to the world,” he said. The Barzan facility is in the Ras Laffan industrial area, Qatar’s key natural gas export terminal, which was heavily damaged in March during an Iranian missile strike.
The minister, who is also chief executive of state-owned QatarEnergy, which operates and owns nearly all of the plant, said the cause of the blast is so far unknown and is under investigation. ExxonMobil holds a minor share in Barzan; it has not issued a formal statement.
QatarEnergy’s emergency response team and Qatar’s Civil Defense extinguished the fire onsite, and damage is being assessed at Barzan and neighboring facilities. QatarEnergy’s LNG facilities, Ras Laffan Port, other logistics operations, and QatarEnergy’s export capabilities remain unaffected as a result of this explosion and fire, according to official company statements.
In 2025, Qatar exported 81.2 million tonnes (mt) of LNG, representing 18.8% of global shipments—second only to the US (110.8 mt, 25.6%) and slightly ahead of Australia (79.7 mt, 18.4%), according to Global LNG Hub, citing London Stock Exchange Group data.