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Energy& naturalThe cost of war: Gulf energy infrastructure faces $25 billion repair billWar in the Middle East has triggered severe global supply disruptions in oil and gas, with reported damage and shutdowns affecting liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, refineries, fuel terminals, and critical gas-to-liquids facilities across the region. According to Rystad Energy%u2019s estimates, energy infrastructure repair and restoration costs to date could reach at least $25 billion, based on an initial assessment of impacted facilities, and are expected to rise further. Spending is likely to be driven primarily by engineering and construction, followed by equipment and materials.In assessing repair costs and full restoration timelines across severity tiers, one clear outlier emerges: Qatar%u2019s Ras Laffan Industrial City, where the destruction of LNG trains S4 and S6 has triggered force majeure and a 17% capacity reduction, equivalent to about 12.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). However, capital alone will not be sufficient to restore the facility, with a full recovery expected to take up to five years. This is because the large-frame gas turbines required to power LNG main refrigeration compressors are supplied by only three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) globally, all of which entered 2026 with production backlogs of approximately two to four years, driven by demand from data centre electrification and coal plant retirements.Looking beyond Qatar, neighbouring Bahrain represents another distinct disruption scenario. The Bapco Sitra Refinery was struck twice, causing confirmed damage to two crude distillation units (CDUs) and a tank farm, with force majeure declared across operations. The destruction of a newly commissioned CDU block just months after first production has eliminated novel processing capacity, delaying the revenue intended to support the recent investment. Restoring the units will likely require international contractors to be re-mobilised at conflict-inflated costs and under uncertain war-risk insurance, as the damaged assets had only recently come online.There were also moderate to minor disruptions in other countries, including the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Across all impacted facilities, the factor that most consistently shapes recovery trajectories is the density and proximity of the domestic EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction)%u00a0ecosystem surrounding each asset %u2014 an often-underestimated variable in conventional damage assessments. The speed of recovery in the region will depend on execution capacity and the timing of capital deployment as repair spending ramps up, according to Rystad Energy. Operators are likely to prioritise restoring existing fields instead The latest developments on the energy front314 NX