TASS reported on March 26 that Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida Al Kaabi said at the Doha Forum yesterday that Qatar is unable to help Europe with deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Qatar has been pressured by the European Union and the British to take up the slack in the delivery of LNG, to help the EU cut its dependency on Russian fuel supplies.
Al Kaabi said, “I do not think that at the moment we can urgently help [Europe],” he said. “No one can take Russia’s place in energy supply.” He further stated that since Russia provides 30-40% of gas deliveries, the Emirate could not supply such amounts.
According to statistica.com, Australia and Qatar are currently the major exporting countries of LNG, followed by the United States, with the U.S. rapidly gaining.
Experts agree that it’s unlikely that Qatar would be able to gear up its delivery of LNG to the EU and U.K. in the coming years, since most of its gas volumes go to the Asia-Pacific countries under long-term contracts.
In related news, RT also reported that there are unconfirmed reports that the French are considering building floating LNG terminals to bypass Russian gas exports.
