Energy strikes redraw Gulf risk for global oil and gas

Violence between Israel, the US, and Iran reached a fever pitch this week, as targeted strikes on refineries and ports crippled vital global energy infrastructure.

WHAT: Targeted attacks on refineries, gas plants, and ports have severely impacted regional production.

WHY: The US and Israel aim to disrupt Iranian income while Iran retaliates across borders.

WHAT NEXT: Markets expect higher prices as repairs at hubs like Ras Laffan take many years.

Energy facilities have become the most exposed front line in the confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran. Direct attacks between April 3 and 7 struck refineries, gas plants and ports from Kuwait to the UAE, alongside renewed raids on Iran’s Kharg Island export hub.

Renewed escalation

The early-April attacks unfolded as Washington tried to rein in its own strike campaign. On March 27, President Donald Trump announced that he was “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 PM, Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing,” temporarily halting US attacks on Iranian energy assets. Ahead of that deadline, at the time of going to press, Kuwaiti citizens had been warned to stay at home overnight, while Qatar and the UAE reported intercepting a barrage of missiles and drones from Iran.

Iran has rejected US conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and continued to hit energy facilities across the Gulf with missiles and drones. Human rights groups and independent experts warn that repeated strikes on civilian energy infrastructure – whether by US–Israeli forces or by Iran – risk breaching international humanitarian law.

Kuwait and Bahrain under fire

Among Gulf producers, Kuwait has faced some of the most serious damage in the first week of April. A drone attack on the Mina Al–Ahmadi refinery on April 3 caused fires in several operational units at one of the country’s main export refineries, which had already been struck twice in March.

Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) and the state’s Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC) reported “significant damage” at several facilities as emergency crews fought further fires highlighted on April 5, following earlier attacks on the headquarters of state oil giant Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC).

To the east, Bahrain has seen parallel pressure. Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. (GPIC) said parts of its complex caught fire after drone strikes on April 5, while Bapco Energies’ 400,000–barrel–per–day refinery remains partly constrained after a March attack that forced the company to declare force majeure. The concentration of high–value facilities along a narrow coastline has made both Kuwait and Bahrain acutely vulnerable to low–cost drone and missile raids.

Pressure points

In Qatar, Iran’s March missile barrage against the Ras Laffan LNG hub – which handles around 20% of global LNG trade – caused “extensive damage”. QatarEnergy CEO Saad al–Kaabi has warned that repairs could take “three to five years”. The company has declared force majeure on some long–term contracts, leaving European and Asian buyers with fewer spot cargoes to work with.

In the UAE, one of the world’s largest refineries, Ruwais, suffered multiple fires on April 5 after debris from intercepted projectiles fell on the site, according to Abu Dhabi authorities.

Other gas facilities, including the Das Island LNG plant, are running at reduced levels because exports through the Strait of Hormuz remain restricted. Meanwhile, Fujairah, the key bunkering hub outside the Strait, has been shut by drone strikes, and debris from air–defence interceptions caused a fire at Khor Fakkan port on April 5.

Israel hits Asaluyeh again

Iran’s own energy infrastructure is simultaneously coming under sustained attack from the US–Israeli campaign. Israeli jets first hit the South Pars gas field – the world’s largest – on March 18, striking facilities that provide much of Iran’s domestic gas for power and heating. Human Rights Watch said the assault on what is primarily a civilian energy asset raised “serious concerns about unlawful targeting”.

On April 6, Israeli forces mounted a further major strike on South Pars and the adjacent Asaluyeh petrochemical complex, according to regional media and civil society monitors. Israel has presented the operations as an effort to “disrupt a vital source of income for Iran”, arguing that Tehran uses energy revenues to fund regional proxies.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has promised that “today will witness the highest number of strikes since the beginning. Tomorrow, we will exceed today’s actions,” signalling Washington’s readiness to escalate if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that more than 40 significant energy installations have been damaged since the start of the conflict, making this one of the largest disruptions to modern oil and gas supply.

Kharg Island back in the firing line

Kharg Island, Iran’s principal oil export terminal, has re–emerged as a focal point in the stand–off. Earlier US raids in mid–March targeted more than 90 military sites on the island – including naval mine depots, missile bunkers and aviation facilities – while deliberately sparing crude storage tanks and loading infrastructure, allowing exports to continue.

On April 7, the US again struck military objectives on Kharg Island, just hours before Trump’s deadline for Iran to accept his terms on reopening Hormuz, according to a White House official and regional media reports. Iranian outlets and Asian broadcasters reported several explosions and fires on the island, though local authorities insisted that “about 90%” of maritime infrastructure had suffered only minor damage and was still operating.

Satellite-based tanker tracking suggests loadings from Kharg have so far continued, but analysts note that the island handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude exports and can load millions of barrels per day, making any sustained damage to its jetties or storage tanks a potential inflection point for global supply. For traders and corporate risk officers, the latest strikes have turned Kharg from a theoretical red line into a live variable in scenario planning.

Key considerations

The destruction of physical infrastructure is feeding quickly through to prices and trade flows. Brent crude is trading well above $100 a barrel, while European benchmark gas prices surged by as much as 35% in a single session after the strikes on South Pars and Ras Laffan.

Regional producers have responded by invoking contractual force majeure, rerouting cargoes and drawing on contingency storage. Kuwait and Bahrain are prioritising domestic fuel supply over exports, while Saudi Arabia has stepped up use of its Red Sea terminals at Yanbu to compensate for constrained flows through Hormuz. Qatar is examining options to accelerate expansion projects once repairs at Ras Laffan begin, although its leadership has cautioned that output will not fully recover for several years.

The last week underscores the need to revisit basic assumptions. The strikes have highlighted concentration risk in a system where a limited number of refineries, LNG hubs, ports and a single Iranian export island function as global choke points. Companies around the world will need to test scenarios in which key Gulf assets remain partly offline for prolonged periods and scrutinise exposure to counterparties whose facilities now sit within an active war zone.