The Saudi Arabian army has prepared the 2017 plan to invade Qatar, the newspaper The Wall Street Journal quoted US, Saudi and Qatari officials as saying in a report that the Saudi plan included the capture of Qatar's northern natural gas field, the largest in the world.
Control of the Qatari gas field would have made Saudi Arabia the second largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world overnight, she said, noting that the plan to control the field was part of a larger scheme to end border disputes between the two countries, US, Saudi and Qatari officials said.
She said the vision of the Saudi Crown Prince for 2030, which aims to export gas by this year, was one of the reasons for thinking about the invasion of Qatar, adding that US officials persuaded Saudi Arabia that the invasion of Qatar would be a major breach of the international regime.
Saudi Arabia has long been treating gas as a less profitable commodity than oil, although the country has the world's fifth largest natural gas reserves.
In early June 2017, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama closed their diplomatic and economic ties and closed border, sea and air border ports under the pretext of Doha's support for terrorism, which Qatar has vehemently denied.