The essence of the production of natural gas liquor of the emirate is sent to Asia, in the context of long-term contracts, almost impossible to terminate.
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs Italian, on March 5, the Minister of the German Economy on March 20, the leader of French diplomacy, March 28: since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, in late February , the top European officials scroll to Doha. The prospect of a stop of russian gas purchases by European states has propelled the emirate, the third largest blue gold exporter of the planet, at the heart of large geopolitical maneuvers to find an alternative to these imports.
The European Commission seeks to diminish two-thirds the dependence of the twenty-seven in Russian gas and to freely free “well before 2030”, thanks to reserve, energy savings, energy savings. Grouped gas purchases and supplier diversification.
When on March 25, the US President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to provide Europe with a total of 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2022, “in cooperation with international partners “, Looks on the Old Continent spontaneously turned to the Cité-State of the Arabian Peninsula. Faithful Washington Allied and Second Largest Gas Carrier by List of World Behind Australia, Qatar is ideally placed on paper to support Europeans.
Low profile
In reality, things are much more complicated. Saturday, March 26, at the Tribune of the Doha Forum, a high-flying conference organized in the Principality, Qatari Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi, acknowledged that he did not have a miracle cure for new energetic anxieties of the EU. “In the immediate future, I do not think we can help, he said. Nobody can replace the Russian gas overnight. It takes time.”
Nearly 90% of Qatar LNG production is exported under long-term contracts, almost impossible to terminate, mainly to Asia. Eight countries at this continent (South Korea, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Thailand) absorb 77% of Qatari liquefied gas exports. “It is not possible for us to divert cargoes to Europe, assures Saad Al-Kaabi. In twenty-six years of activity, we have never fallen on a single contract. Just do not honor it. One to tarnish your reputation. ”
The very opulent emirate, at the head of the third largest gas reserves in the world, can not it really do anything? In their communication on this highly sensitive subject, the Qatarius authorities deliberately make low profile, for fear of Moscow. Doha, which is officially neutral in the conflict in Ukraine but whose pro-kyiv preferences do no mystery – the intervention of President Zelensky, by video, opening the Doha Forum testified -, needs not not appear as the ally of European sanctions. The chief diplomat of the peninsula, Mohammed Ben Abderrahmane Al Thani, went to the Russian capital in mid-March, where he met his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
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