Iran confirms partial shutdown at world's largest gas field after Israeli strike

Iran has partially suspended gas production at the world’s biggest gas field after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, in what would be the first Israeli strike on Iran’s oil and gas sector.

Iran shares the South Pars gas field with Qatar. Striking it would mark a major escalation in the conflict, which had already pushed oil prices up 9% on Friday even though Israel spared Iran’s oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.

Israel launched an air offensive against Iran on Friday, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop Tehran building an atomic weapon.

The South Pars field is located offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province and is responsible for the lion’s share of gas production in Iran, the world’s third largest gas producer after the United States and Russia.

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The strike caused a fire, which has been extinguished, the Iranian oil ministry said. The fire broke out in one of the four units of Phase 14 of South Pars, halting production of 12 million cubic metres of gas, Tasnim said.

Iran produces around 275 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year or some 6.5% of global gas output, and consumes it domestically as it cannot export gas due to sanctions.

Iran shares the field with Qatar, which calls the field North Field. Qatar produces 77 million tonnes of liquefied gas from the field with the help of global majors such as Exxon and Shell and supplies the gas to Europe and Asia.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear programme possibly by years but rejected international calls for restraint, saying the attack would be intensified.

“We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” he said in a video message.

In Tehran, Iranian state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets.