Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy H E Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi addressing the event yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy H E Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi revealed the details of the explosion and fire at Barzan local gas supply facility at Ras Laffan Industrial City, which is operated by QatarEnergy LNG and noted that there are no environmental risks and export capabilities remain unaffected as a result of the incident.
Addressing the press conference held yesterday at the headquarters of QatarEnergy, Minister Al Kaabi said, it is with deep regret QatarEnergy confirms the tragic loss of 13 lives, and 66 people are receiving medical treatment, none of whom are in a life-threatening condition.
“At about 10:30pm on Sunday night (June 21) there was an explosion at Barzan local gas supply facility at Ras Laffan Industrial City. I would like to emphasise that this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature,” he said.
QatarEnergy’s emergency response team and Qatar’s Civil Defense swiftly and fully extinguished the fire onsite.
Barzan plant production was intentionally completely stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements, and was first restarted again two days prior to the incident.
The lives lost in this incident are of Indian and Pakistani nationalities, and those injured are of Qatari, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Tanzanian, Nigerian, and Nepalese nationalities, he added.
Minister Al Kaabi further said, “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those who lost their lives, and prays for the swift recovery of those injured. QatarEnergy pledges its full support to those affected by this tragedy.
“We have started full investigation to determine the cause of this unfortunate incident. Work is underway to assess the damage to Barzan and neighboring facilities. QatarEnergy’s LNG facilities, Ras Laffan Port, other logistics operations, and QatarEnergy’s export capabilities remain unaffected as a result of this explosion and fire.”
Replying to queries about environmental risks, Minister Al Kaabi noted that there are no environmental risks or possibilities of hazardous material leaks because of the fire that broke out at the Barzan LNG plant. The relevant authorities have monitored the situation from the earliest moments and have not detected any environmental threats requiring concern.
The Minister noted that the incident did not affect LNG exports or the state’s contractual obligations with international customers, stressing that production and export operations at other facilities continue normally.
About the supply shortage and the capability of supplying local demand and factories he said, “We have ample supplies of gas to make up that loss from different projects and different capabilities that we have, so we don’t see any shortage. It will not affect anything regarding exports. It will not affect anything regarding our local requirements.”
Al Kaabi explained that the facility is one of the vital sources of natural gas supply to local industrial sectors, including petrochemicals, fertilizers, and others, however, Qatar has reserve capacities and alternative operational plans that ensure uninterrupted supply.
In response to a question about when the plant would return to full capacity, the Minister said, it is too early to set a clear timeframe. This will depend on the results of the technical investigations and the arrival of engineering and maintenance teams at the site to conduct a comprehensive damage assessment.
He also denied that the incident will have any impact on Qatar’s future energy sector plans.
