Britain faces years of soaring energy bills and billions in government support costs after Iranian strikes on the world’s largest gas facility sent UK prices rocketing and left ministers scrambling to protect households from the fallout. Thursday’s assault on Ras Laffan tore through a facility that underpins a fifth of the world’s LNG supply and sprawls across an area three times the size of Paris. The chief executive of QatarEnergy delivered a sobering assessment of the damage, warning that getting the complex back to full capacity could take the best part of five years. Markets reacted immediately — UK gas prices spiked by more than a fifth and Brent crude surged eight per cent before retreating. Energy market traders described the situation as “apocalypse now.” Chief analyst at Montel Energy Analytics Tobias Federico said the strikes could trigger a “race for LNG between Asia and Europe in the coming months.” “Europe is approaching the time of year where it seeks to refill gas storage ahead of the winter,” Federico said. “In parallel, it seems likely …