At least things are clear in Qatar. Saad Sherida al-Kaabi is both the Minister of Energy and the CEO of Qatar Energy. It is for this reason that he signed, Saturday, September 24, a major agreement with Patrick Pouyanné who, failing to be minister, is the pattern of Totalenergies, and takes the place, in the head of his interlocutors of Gulf, representative of French interests.
His group will invest $ 1.5 billion (1.55 billion euros) in the gas field North Field South (NFS) to take 9.4 % of the joint venture, whose Qatar will hold 75 %. Other partners will be invited to the capital, but Totalenergies is the first of them.
He maintains close relations with this little emirate which is, in itself, the world’s fourth producer of gas and, above all, the first in liquefied natural gas (LNG). This process, which allows you to transport gas anywhere by boats, has become strategic for Europeans since the Russians closed the tap of North Stream 1, their main gas pipeline arriving in Germany by the Baltic.
Realpolitik
This rush to LNG, Totalenergies anticipated it several years ago, so much so that it provides that this activity should represent 50 % of its sales by 2030. This is why it had been Also one of the first investors in the allocation of the North Field East field in June. Two billion dollars in investment in this deposit, whose production capacity is estimated at 32 million tonnes per year, twice that of its NFS cousin. The North Field set, shared with Iran, is currently the largest gas deposit on the planet.
These two good news, three months apart, will not change our immediate winter constraints since deliveries will only intervene from 2025. It does not have to refresh the atmosphere a little For Patrick Pouyanné who, not content with wiping the continuous criticisms of environmentalists, also had to face the anger of the left -wing deputies, who intend to tax his superprofits. Not to mention its controversial presence in the Russian Arctic. For its part, Qatar is accused of mistreatment and ecological crime with the Football World Cup, which will start on November 20 in open -air air -conditioned stadiums.
The two partners of the day may explain that the exploitation of the gas will be captured of the co 2 , they will not appear criticism, who believe that French abandons A devil to indulge in another. Energy realpolitik, an integral part of the profession since its origins, has its reasons that European reason prefers to ignore.