Wednesday marked the darkest day yet for global oil markets as Iran threatened energy strikes against Gulf infrastructure following an Israeli attack on the South Pars gasfield. The Revolutionary Guards named specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar as targets and issued evacuation orders. Brent crude surged nearly 5% to $108.60 a barrel, approaching $110, while European gas prices climbed more than 7.5% — reflecting the most acute market anxiety the conflict had yet produced.
South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas reserve, is shared between Iran and Qatar and central to Iran’s gas export economy. The Israeli attack — reportedly with US authorization — was the first time Iran’s fossil fuel sector had been directly targeted. Washington and Tel Aviv had previously avoided this step, understanding that crossing it could trigger the precisely the kind of market panic now playing out.
Iran’s state media named Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities as imminent targets. All personnel were told to leave without any delay. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar condemned the US-Israeli escalation as “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a full-scale economic war.
Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels due to sustained infrastructure attacks and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had continued to export its own crude through the strait unimpeded while blocking Gulf neighbors’ shipments. The threat of Iranian strikes on Gulf energy facilities raised fears of a further dramatic collapse in global supply that could push prices toward new record highs.
Qatar’s government spokesperson Majid al-Ansari warned that targeting energy infrastructure was a direct threat to global energy security, the environment, and millions of regional residents. For global oil markets, the darkest day had arrived — one defined by surging prices, named targets, evacuation orders, and an energy system pushed to its limits by a conflict that showed no signs of abating. The next few hours would determine how much darker it would get.