Analysts: Iran's gas fields and petrochemical industry are its most vulnerable economic link in the war

According to an analysis by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, Iran's oil sector can likely weather a temporary production shut-in, but its gas fields and petrochemical industry are the most vulnerable link in the country's economy during the current war.

The shared South Pars field supplies roughly 70 to 75 percent of Iran's gas production and feeds much of the country's petrochemical and gasoline output. According to Argus, onshore processing facilities at South Pars and petrochemical complexes in the Asaluyeh area were damaged in air strikes this year, with estimates pointing to a fall of about 100,000 to 120,000 barrels a day in gas-condensate output.

Petrochemicals are a pillar of Iran's non-oil exports and among the heaviest-weighted sectors on the Tehran Stock Exchange, so lasting damage to the gas and petrochemical chain could pressure both the country's foreign-currency earnings and the valuation of a large part of the bourse.