New Delhi: The Gulf region in West Asia is at the receiving end of the war between US-Israel and Iran, but the entire world is affected, including India.
It had started as an attack on Iran’s leadership, with joint US-Israeli strikes eliminating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other leaders on February 28.
However, Iran were not orphaned by their big loss, and retaliated with drone and missile strikes on American bases in the Gulf region.
It’s nearly three weeks, and the US and Israel have continued to pound Iran with heavy strikes. But Tehran has not been taking things lying down.
The conflict has now entered a dangerous phase as it has become a full-blown ‘oil war’.
After Israel struck the South Pars gasfield on Wednesday, Iran fired drones and missiles at oil giant Aramco’s Samref refinery in Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s energy infrastructure at Ras Laffan industrial city.
The attack on Qatar’s energy infrastructure is not good news for India.
Qatar is India’s biggest gas supplier, providing about one-third of its total liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and about half of its liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Till now, the disruption in supply was mainly due to transportation issues as the Strait of Hormuz was largely blocked by Iran, which allowed selective passage to ships and attacked several vessels trying to cross the narrow waterway.
Now, it could snowball into a serious problem is Ras Laffan gas-to-liquids facility is damaged.
Indian firms Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL), GAIL India and GSPC have long-term gas supply contracts with Qatar. PLL has been importing about 7.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Qatar, GSPC 1 MTPA, and GAIL less than 1 MMTPA LNG from Qatar, reported Hindustan Times.
Additionally, Qatar supplies about 5 million metric tonnes of LPG to India’s oil marketing companies (OMCs).
As per official data, Qatar supplied LNG worth $6.39 billion to India in 2024-25. As for LPG, India imported gas worth $3.21 billion in 2024-25.
Indian government has been taking measures to ensure energy supplies to all sectors through alternative means, but the longer the war continues, graver will be the problem as fuel prices will be impacted.
With energy becoming a weapon of war, the world is bracing for an unprecedented crisis.
