2023-05-23 13:39:52
Europe owes its salvation to the clemency of its climate… At least that’s what Qatar’s Energy Minister, Saad Al-Kaabi, said on Tuesday. “The worst is yet to come,” he warned at a forum in Doha. “The only thing that saved humanity and Europe this year was a warm winter and a slowing economy.”
There is nothing hazardous about this statement in the midst of negotiations. The wealthy Gulf emirate, one of the leading gas exporters in the world, is indeed seeking to seal long-term contracts with European states which, for the most part, have long refused despite their frantic quest for alternatives to Russian hydrocarbons.
“If they don’t realize this, if they don’t have a proper plan, if they don’t demonize the oil and gas companies and if they don’t sit down with the producers”, the Europeans will have to face a “reality (which) will impose itself”, he added.
Europe “saved by a gift of God”
Qatar has pledged to develop the North Field, which contains the largest natural gas (LNG) deposits in the world, to boost its production to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027. production from the North Field East and North Field South fields could be subject to long-term agreements by the end of the year, Saad Al-Kaabi said while indicating a risk of shortage “by the end of the year. end of the year “.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman also said Europe was “saved by a gift from God” last winter, and that global energy security was threatened by the “policies of the headlong rush”, in reference to the environmental considerations opposed to hydrocarbons. “Energy security is hampered. We lack capacity because countries are not investing in oil and gas,” he commented, as the Gulf monarchy is the world’s largest exporter of black gold.
“We are talking about blue, green, purple, pink hydrogen, but in the end, who will take it? What will the price be? “, he quipped. “We are not talking about oil or gas. We are talking about the so-called cleanest and greenest fuel of the future. And yet, there are no buyers”.
The Gulf countries largely promote decarbonization policies, but regularly stress the importance of investing more in gas and oil to meet global demand. The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting the UN climate conference this year (COP 28), is also calling for the promotion of policies to capture CO2 emitted by the hydrocarbon industry instead of relying on green energies. .
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