Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja 

Iran has partially suspended gas production at the world’s biggest gas field after an Israeli strike caused a fire there at the weekend, in what would be the first attack on the country’s oil and gas sector.

Iran shares the South Pars gas field with Qatar. Striking it marks a major escalation in the conflict, which already pushed oil prices up 9 per cent last Friday even though Israel spared Iran’s oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.

Israel launched an air offensive against Iran on Friday, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop Tehran building an atomic weapon.

The South Pars field is located offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province and is responsible for the lion’s share of gas production in Iran, the world’s third largest gas producer after the United States and Russia, Reuters reported.

The strike caused a fire, which has been extinguished, the Iranian oil ministry said. The fire broke out in one of the four units of Phase 14 of South Pars, halting production of 12 million cubic metres of gas.

Iran produces around 275 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year or some 6.5 per cent of global gas output, and consumes it domestically as it cannot export gas due to sanctions.

Iran shares the field with Qatar, which calls the field North Field. Qatar produces 77 million tonnes of liquefied gas from the field with the help of global majors such as Exxon and Shell and supplies the gas to Europe and Asia.

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