Photograph: Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP via Getty ImagesThe price of oil and natural gas jumped as escalating attacks in the Middle East threatened long-term damage to big energy facilities as European markets fell sharply. An Iranian missile inflicted “extensive damage” on the Ras Laffan complex in Qatar housing the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant. The attack on Qatar in particular raises the spectre of higher long-term energy prices resulting from the US and Israel’s war on Iran. The ratcheting up of the war also sent Europe’s natural gas prices surging 25 per cent to their highest levels of the crisis so far. Iran then retaliated ​by firing missiles at gas and oil facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Source: The Irish Times March 19, 2026 15:51 UTC