Pakistani and Indian nationals had been amongst 13 killed after an explosion at Qatar’s large Ras Laffan liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) advanced, Qatar’s power minister Saad al-Kaabi stated on Monday.
Authorities are investigating the reason for the explosion, which Saad al-Kaabi stated was “an accident and never sabotage or hostile in nature”.
He introduced “the tragic lack of 13 lives of our individuals who maintain Indian and Pakistani nationalities”.
He added that 66 individuals have been reported injured and are receiving medical remedy, none of whom are in life-threatening situation”. They maintain Qatari, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Kenyan, Ghanian, Tanzanian, Nigerian and Nepalese nationalities, he added. added.
The explosion occurred as staff had been restarting operations halted after an Iranian assault in March. The blast came about at a unit supplying gasoline to native companies and reverberated throughout Doha.
Saad al-Kaabi, additionally the CEO of QatarEnergy, stated an investigation had began into the incident.
“It is not going to have an effect on something concerning export. It is not going to have an effect on something concerning our native necessities,” Kaabi stated, including that the explosion had “no environmental impression”.
The inside ministry stated a “technical malfunction” occurred on Sunday night, with authorities saying the incident came about on the Barzan native gasoline provide facility.
On the time of the explosion, AFP Journalists within the Qatari capital heard the blast on the nation’s northern coast, 64 kilometers away.
One other, 20km away, noticed brilliant orange flames and a plume of smoke rising from the realm, dwelling to the world’s largest liquefied pure gasoline hub.
Qatar, which hosts a serious US navy base, has come beneath repeated Iranian missile and drone assaults throughout the Iran struggle, which trapped round 20 % of worldwide LNG provide within the Gulf earlier than some shipments started to renew just lately.
Qatar’s state-owned power firm stated the blast erupted “throughout the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial Metropolis, which resulted in an explosion and hearth at Barzan native gasoline provide facility”.
Late on Sunday, Qatar Vitality stated the fireplace had been introduced beneath management after emergency response groups had been deployed.
Pakistan’s embassy in Qatar expressed its deep sorrow over the incident and stated it remained “obtainable to facilitate Pakistani nationals and their households in reference to the incident”.
The embassy added that it was involved with the related Qatari authorities.
It additional stated Pakistani neighborhood members requiring help might contact the embassy in Doha at +974 6679 0329 and +974 6648 6213.
‘Internal explosion’
Ras Laffan had already been badly damaged in the US-Iran war as Iranian strikes targeted Gulf energy infrastructure and forced Qatar to halt gas production.
Kaabi said the status of the Strait and attacks on Gulf nations remained a “geopolitical, military issue” drawing a line between Sunday’s explosion which he said was “different”.
“We have to take it in stride and move on and learn from it,” the minister, who is also QatarEnergy’s chief executive officer (CEO), added.
Kaabi explained Barzan’s production had been stopped since December 2025 for maintenance and was first restarted again two days prior to the explosion.
Earlier, Qatar’s interior ministry had described Sunday’s incident as an “internal explosion” and a “technical malfunction”.
The incident highlights the challenges Gulf producers face in ramping up oil and gas production from facilities shut down during the Iran war.
Qatar has been among the hardest hit by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as it has no alternative routes to export its LNG.
Restarting LNG operations is a particularly complex process due to a deliberately slow cooldown to avoid thermal shock. LNG trains cannot restart simultaneously and must be brought back in sequence.
In the liquefaction process — which turns gas into a liquid state by cooling it down to approximately minus 162 degrees Celsius — the cooldown is the most critical step.
The facility is located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, QatarEnergy’s site for LNG production and export with an annual production capacity of 77 million metric tons.
An Iranian missile attack in March struck two of its key gas-processing units, slashing about 17pc of Qatar’s LNG export capacity, which QatarEnergy’s CEO told Reuters would take three to five years to repair.
The war also forced the company to evacuate about 10,000 workers from offshore rigs and onshore processing plants. The company reported no injuries during the March missile attack.
