North Dome gas field

The North Dome field is Qatar's portion of the world's largest natural gas reservoir, which straddles the maritime boundary between Qatar and Iran. Iran calls its half South Pars. The combined structure holds an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, more than any other single natural gas deposit on Earth. Qatar State Petroleum (QatarEnergy) operates the North Dome exclusively; the field underpins virtually all of Qatar's LNG export capacity and a material share of global LNG supply.

Qatar has progressively expanded North Dome production capacity through a series of LNG mega-trains. Output was capped between 2005 and 2017 to protect reservoir pressure; Qatar lifted the moratorium in 2017 and is currently expanding towards a target of 126 million tonnes per annum of LNG capacity by 2030, up from roughly 77 mtpa. The North Dome and South Pars halves share the same geological reservoir; changes in production rates or infrastructure damage on one side affect pressure dynamics on the other, though at a pace measured in years rather than days.

The geopolitical sensitivity of North Dome became acute on 6 April 2026, when Israel struck the South Pars / Asaluyeh complex on Iran's side of the field. The strike landed in the same week Qatar publicly declined to mediate US-Iran talks, and analysts noted that Iran's most economically symmetrical retaliation, hitting North Dome infrastructure, would constitute an attack on a non-belligerent Gulf state hosting US forces, a threshold that has deterred Tehran throughout the conflict.