US crude or the West Texas Intermediate gained as much as 3.5% in early Asia trading on Thursday, March 19, to near $99 a barrel, while after the initial drop on Wednesday, Brent reversed course to close near the $110 per barrel mark. US natural gas also saw a jump of close to 5% overnight.
In retaliation to the Israeli strike on the South Pars gas field, Iran launched a strike at Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial city, which saw one missile hit, while four others were intercepted. Ras Laffan also houses the world’s biggest LNG production site, which is already shut since the start of the month during the initial attacks.
South Pars is important for supply to the domestic market as well as to neighboring Iraq and Turkey. Associated oil and petrochemical assets were also struck at Asaluyeh.
While attacks were ongoing, Iran’s upstream energy assets were spared until now. Even the bombings on Kharg island were limited to military establishments.
According to the Wall Street Journal, US President Donald Trump was aware of the Israeli attack on the South Pars field in Iran, but wants no more attacks on Iran’s energy sites.
Abu Dhabi said it halted operations at its Habshan gas facilities after the interception of missiles resulted in falling debris. LNG assets in Bahrain — considered by Tehran as among US interests — were hit by heavy missile strikes, Iran’s semi-official Fars reported Wednesday, without saying where it got the information.
(With Inputs From Agencies)
