The image shown here was from video (or at least purported video) of the Pars gas processing station in Iran, or something nearby. It’s clearly in flames but earlier there were reports that the fire was brought under control.
Now, the Iranian Gas Company is out with an advisory saying the situation is expected to return to normal in Pars soon.
That’s unambiguously good news and indicates that the damage wasn’t critical, or was in storage facilities or something that wasn’t necessary for gas processing. If that’s so, it could have been more of a warning shot or some kind of test to keep Iran off balance. The bad news is that Iran already reportedly hit a refinery in Saudi Arabia in response and near Ras Laffan in Qatar. It also highlighted targets in neighbouring countries that had US ownership. That led to a rebuke of both Iran and Israel/USA by Qatar and others.
In any case, oil prices have retreated in the past 20 minutes or so on the hope there is a path to de-escalation here. That’s a big ask and it’s certainly a gut-check moment but only time will tell.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.
