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The UAE announced on 19 March that it had suspended operations at the Habshan gas processing facility in Abu Dhabi after the site was affected by falling debris from Iranian missiles intercepted by the country’s air defence systems.

Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they intercepted missiles targeting the Habshan gas facility and the Bab oil field. The Abu Dhabi Media Office said no injuries were reported.

The Habshan complex is one of the largest gas processing facilities in the UAE and the wider Middle East and North Africa, and is operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Group). It has a processing capacity of 6.1 billion cubic feet a day. The complex comprises five trains and 14 processing units that receive gas feedstock from onshore and offshore fields in Abu Dhabi.

The Bab field, located 84 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi city, has been in production since 1960. It is the emirate’s first oil-producing asset and is central to Adnoc’s strategic objective of reaching an oil production capacity of 5 million barrels a day by 2027. Adnoc Group subsidiary Adnoc Onshore has been investing significantly in maintaining and enhancing the Bab field’s oil and gas production potential through infrastructure modification projects.

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Sultan Al-Jaber, Adnoc Group managing director and CEO, and the UAE’s minister of industry and advanced technology, condemned the attacks on the company’s facilities, saying: “Critical energy infrastructure across our region has come under attack – including Adnoc’s.

“These are civilian facilities, operated by civilian engineers, sustaining economies and everyday life far beyond our region.

“This is an unjustified, unprovoked and illegal attack on a peaceful nation. But it is not just a regional issue – it is global economic warfare. Energy flows are being weaponised.

“The reality is simple: energy security is global economic stability. When energy systems are targeted, the consequences are felt by our teams on the front line, by communities here in the Emirates, and by households and economies around the world.

“The call from the UAE and across the globe is clear: Attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure must stop.

“We must de-escalate, restore stability and ensure energy continues to flow safely to the world.”

In a separate statement, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Iranian attacks as a “dangerous escalation and a violation of international law”, warning that targeting energy infrastructure poses a direct threat to regional stability and global energy security.

It added that the UAE “reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and national security”.