The Gulf energy sector faced its hour of maximum danger on Wednesday after Israel attacked the South Pars gasfield and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened imminent strikes against energy facilities across the region. Facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar were named as targets and workers ordered to evacuate. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the conflict entered a new and more destructive phase.
South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas reserve, is shared between Iran and Qatar and has been fundamental to Iran’s energy revenues throughout the conflict. The Israeli attack — reportedly conducted with US consent — was the first time Iran’s fossil fuel sector had been directly struck. Both Washington and Tel Aviv had previously avoided targeting Iranian energy assets, but that restraint was now gone — and Iran’s response was the most sweeping and credible retaliatory threat of the entire war.
Iran’s state broadcaster named Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities as imminent targets. Workers and residents were ordered to leave immediately. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar called the US-Israeli escalation “political suicide” and declared Iran was now fighting a full-scale economic war.
Oil climbed to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas benchmarks jumped more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels, the result of sustained infrastructure attacks and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had continued to export its own crude through the strait unimpeded while preventing Gulf neighbors from doing so — a strategic advantage that had shaped the conflict’s economic dimension throughout. Any successful Iranian strikes on Gulf energy facilities could push the supply crisis beyond a point of recovery.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that attacking energy infrastructure constituted a grave threat to global energy security and regional welfare. For the Gulf energy sector, the hour of maximum danger had arrived — with specific targets named, evacuation orders issued, oil prices surging, and Iran’s retaliatory clock running. The world held its breath, knowing the events of the next few hours could define the global energy market for years to come.