Despite decades of Middle Eastern hostility, Israel has launched the first strikes on some of Iran’s most important oil and gas infrastructure, igniting concerns about a growing confrontation and posing a danger to market stability.
Additionally, Iran has temporarily halted production at the South Pars, the largest gasfield in the world, which it shares with neighbor Qatar, following a fire there on Saturday sparked by an Israeli strike.
After Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear and military facilities and killed a number of senior military leaders and nuclear experts, the most recent round of projectile exchange started on Friday. In response to international demands for de-escalation, Tehran fired drones and ballistic missiles toward several Israeli cities.
Even though both nations threaten to launch even more devastating assaults on one another, Israel’s unexpected and unprecedented attacks on Iran’s energy installations have the potential to disrupt Middle Eastern oil supply and raise gasoline prices globally.
How many major facilities were attacked by the Israelis?
According to the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iran has the second-largest proven natural gas reserves and the third-largest crude oil reserves in the world. Israel has long been considering attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Israel had mostly refrained from attacking Iranian energy installations prior to the current war escalation because of pressure from its friends, notably the US, over the potential harm to world oil and gas prices from such an attack. Now, it is different.
Significant fires broke out late Saturday at two separate locations in the Iranian capital: the Shahran fuel and gas storage, northwest of central Tehran, and one of the country’s biggest oil refineries, at Shahr Rey, south of the city.
Iran’s Student News Network later acknowledged that a gasoline tank outside the refinery had caught fire but denied that Israel had attacked the Shahr Rey refinery, stating that it was still in operation. It didn’t clarify the cause of the fire.
The South Pars field, located off the coast of Iran’s southern Bushehr region, was also the target of Israeli aerial raids. Two-thirds of Iran’s gas production, which is used domestically, comes from the biggest gasfield in the world. The South Pars, also known as the North Field, is shared by Iran and its neighbor, Qatar.
The strikes caused significant damage and fire at the Phase 14 natural gas processing facility, as well as stopping an offshore production platform that generates 12 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
A further Israeli attack allegedly caused a fire at the Fajr Jam gas complex, one of Iran’s primary processing facilities that process fuel from South Pars and is situated in the Bushehr region. The plant was struck, according to confirmation from the Iranian Petroleum Ministry.
Which factors make these sites significant?
The Shahran oil depot is one of Tehran’s largest fuel distribution and storage facilities. It has 11 storage tanks with a combined capacity of over 260 million liters. It is a vital hub in Tehran’s urban fuel system, supplying aviation fuel, diesel, and gasoline to several terminals spread throughout the northern part of the city.
Located in the Shahr-e Rey area just south of Tehran, the state-owned Tehran Oil Refining Company operates the Tehran Refinery, one of the oldest refineries in the country. It has a daily processing capacity of over 225,000 barrels. Experts warn that any disruption to this area might strain gasoline supply in the most densely inhabited and economically significant region, regardless of the origin of the fire.
The offshore South Pars gas field in the Gulf is thought to have 1,260 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, or over 20% of known global reserves. The attack on Bushehr province’s Fajr-e Jam Gas Refinery, meantime, poses a threat to Iran’s domestic fuel and energy supply, especially for the already severely stressed southern and central provinces. The Iranian government believes that blackouts cost the country’s economy over $250 million every day.
