Iran says production of the world's largest natural gas field has been partially suspended after Israeli attacks
(Reuters) The semi-official Tasim news agency reported that Iran partially suspended gas production in the world's largest natural gas field after the Israeli strike broke out on Saturday.
Iran and Qatar share the natural gas field in the south. This marks a major escalation in the conflict, which has already pushed oil prices by 9% on Friday, even as Israel exempted Iran from oil and gas on the first day of the attack.
Israel launched an air attack on Iran on Friday, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites, which are said to prevent Tehran from building atomic weapons.
The South Pars field is located at the sea in Bushere Province in southern Iran and is responsible for Iran's share of gasoline production, which is the world's third largest natural gas producer, second only to the United States and Russia.
The Iranian oil ministry said the strike caused fires. Tasnim said the fire broke out in one of four units in the South Phase 14, stopping production of 12 million cubic meters of natural gas.
Iran produces approximately 275 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas each year, accounting for about 6.5% of global natural gas production and consumes it domestically because it cannot export gas due to sanctions.
Iran shares Katar in North Field with Katar. Qatar has produced 77 million tons of liquefied natural gas from the field with the help of global expertise such as ExxonMobil and Shell, and has provided natural gas to Europe and Asia.
(Reported by Parisa Hafezi and Enas Alashray; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Peter Graff)
