DOHA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi said Thursday that attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City, the country's main site for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, disrupted about 17 percent of Qatar's LNG export capacity, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).
Two of the country's 14 LNG processing units, along with one of two gas-to-liquids plants, were damaged in the attacks, QNA reported, citing Al Kaabi, also the managing director and CEO of QatarEnergy, a Qatari energy operator.
He said the damage could result in losses estimated at around 20 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue and pose risks to supplies to Europe and Asia.
According to Al Kaabi, repair works could halt production of approximately 12.8 million tonnes of LNG annually for three to five years.
Al Kaabi also noted that U.S. energy firm ExxonMobil holds stakes in the affected facilities, including 34 percent in the S4 LNG train (a production unit) and 30 percent in the S6 unit.
The cost of constructing the damaged units is estimated at around 26 billion dollars, he added.
On Wednesday, QatarEnergy confirmed that Ras Laffan Industrial City had been targeted by Iranian missile attacks, with emergency response teams deployed to contain fires. ■
