DOHA —
Qatar on Tuesday announced its first major deal to send liquefied natural gas
to Germany as Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian energy sources.
اضافة اعلان
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said
up to 2 million tonnes of gas a year would be sent for at least 15 years from
2026, and that state-run QatarEnergy was discussing other possible deals for
Europe’s biggest economy.
Kaabi, who is also QatarEnergy’s chief executive,
said so many European and Asian countries now want natural gas that he did not
have enough negotiators to cope.
The talks for the latest deal took several months as
Germany has resisted the long-term contracts that Qatar normally demands to
justify its massive investment in the industry.
Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine in February increased
pressure on the German government to find new sources. And the latest deal will
not help the country get through the looming winter.
The gas will be bought through US firm
ConocoPhillips, a long-term partner with QatarEnergy, and sent to a new
terminal that Germany is hurrying to finish at Brunsbuttel.
“We are committed to contribute to the energy
security of Germany and Europe at large,” Kaabi told a press conference after
the signing ceremony with ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance.
Lance hailed the accord as “a vital contribution to
world energy security”.
Qatar last week announced a 27-year agreement to
ship 4 million tonnes a year to China. It said this was the longest contract
agreed in the industry.
Qatari officials would not discuss prices but
industry analysts have said Germany will have to pay a premium for the shorter
contract and the hurried start to deliveries.
Intense demand
Kaabi again stressed the
“sizeable investments” that his country has made in extracting gas for
deliveries around the world.
But he also said that Qatar was negotiating with
German companies to further increase the “volumes” being sent.
The gas will come from the North Field East and
North Field South projects that Qatar is developing with ConocoPhillips and
other energy multinationals. North Field contains the world’s biggest natural
gas reserves and extends under the Gulf into Iranian territory.
Through expansion in North Field, Qatar is aiming to
increase its production by 60 percent by 2027. With increases in international
prices, the value of its exports has almost doubled in the past year, state
media said recently.
Asian countries led by China, Japan, and
South Korea have been the main market for Qatar’s gas, but it has been increasingly
targeted by European countries since the war on Ukraine threw supplies into
doubt.
“There is very intense discussions with European
buyers and with Asian buyers,” Kaabi said, highlighting the “scarcity of gas
coming in the next few years”.
“We do not have enough teams to work with everybody,
to cater for the needs” of all countries making demands.
Kaabi said the deal with China’s Sinopec showed that
“Asian buyers are feeling the pressure of wanting to secure long-term deals.
... I think we are in a good position.”
The Brunsbuttel terminal supplies customers of
German energy companies Uniper and RWE, and Economy and Energy Minister Robert
Habeck said the two firms “have to buy on the world market”.
“It is clear that the world market has different
suppliers, and it is smart from the companies to buy the most favorable offers
for the consumers on the world market, and that includes Qatar,” he said.
Bill Farren-Price, head of macro oil and gas
research at energy data analytics firm Enverus, said the deal underlines
Qatar’s “key role” in filling the Russian gas shortfall.
“With Qatar the subject of Western criticism over
its staging of the World Cup, this deal, like the Sinopec one a few days ago,
shows just how significant Qatari LNG will be in rebuilding European energy
security,” he told AFP.
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