QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi confirmed the blast was an accident, with a full investigation now underway and export operations unaffected.
Thirteen people have been killed and 66 others injured following an explosion and fire at the Barzan local gas supply facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City on Sunday, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi confirmed on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Doha, Al-Kaabi said the blast occurred at around 10:30pm on Sunday, 21 June.
“I would like to emphasise that this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature,” he said.
The victims held Indian and Pakistani nationalities, Al-Kaabi confirmed, adding that the 66 injured — none of whom are in life-threatening condition — hold Qatari, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Kenyan, Iranian, Tanzanian, Nigerian and Nepali nationalities.
“I find myself today having to do something I have always hoped would never happen — to announce the tragic loss of 13 lives of our people,” he said.
Al-Kaabi revealed that the Barzan plant had been shut down since December 2025 for urgent maintenance and had only been restarted two days before the explosion. The fire was swiftly extinguished by QatarEnergy’s Emergency Response Team and Qatar Civil Defence.
A full investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched. Al-Kaabi stressed that other QatarEnergy facilities and logistical operations in Ras Laffan remain unaffected. “This will not affect in any way our export capabilities,” he said.
The Barzan complex, commissioned in 2022, supplies pipeline gas domestically and has the capacity to deliver 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day to local power generation and water desalination plants, as well as local industries, according to QatarEnergy.
The facility also supplies associated hydrocarbon products including ethane, condensate and sulphur for both local markets and export.
Ras Laffan Industrial City, located 80km north-east of Doha near the North Field, is one of Qatar’s most significant industrial hubs, with around 115,000 people working at the facility, according to QatarEnergy’s website.
