Second Confirmation of Failure: Qatar renews its inability to compensate Europe with Russian Gas supplies

Qatar is clearly realizing its total failure to transport gas to Europe, despite its many previous attempts to enter the old continent and trigger the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which it has tacitly admitted for the second time.

Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida al-Kaabi admitted the failure a few hours ago; he reiterated that his country cannot immediately help provide gas to Russia, stressing that no one can replace Russia to compensate for its gas supplies, despite Qatar’s support for Ukraine in the war.

Al-Kaabi, who is also the managing director and CEO of the state-owned Qatar Energy Company, stressed in an interactive session during the Doha Forum that the State of Qatar cannot help immediately and no one can replace the Russian supplies.

“Supplies from Russia to Europe range between 30 and 40%, and gas projects need years to come into production”, he said.

He also tried to buy time by stating that no one could replace Russia immediately, pointing out that Europe needs about seven or eight years to secure its energy needs away from Russian sources, and although Qatar is pumping more supplies into the European continent, these quantities remain small compared to what Europe needs.

He said his country is working to increase gas supplies to Europe, whether through increasing the capacity of stations or by shipping additional quantities, but there are differences in the mechanisms for dealing with supplies destined for the European continent and those destined for Asia, as Doha is currently linked by long-term contracts with many countries and 85% of its gas exports go to Asia.

The Ukrainian crisis was not expected to fundamentally change the ways of paying for oil and gas in the long term.

Qatar will continue to supply Europe with natural gas even if other buyers offer to pay a higher price, Al-Kaabi told CNN in an interview broadcast Friday by local media.

Despite his claims that his country is neutral in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, he expressed his rejection of imposing sanctions on the Russian oil and gas sector, adding that energy should stay away from politics because it hinders development and can affect prices in the way that has happened and causes many fluctuations.

In February, the Qatari official told EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson that not all EU gas needs could be met without disrupting supplies to other regions around the world.

The experts had previously expected Qatar to take advantage of concerns about gas shortages in Europe, according to AFP, adding that the emirate will provide some assistance while seeking a bigger foothold in Europe and to score valuable diplomatic points to become Washington’s main ally in the Gulf.

International experts predicted that it could not do so, as it has long-term contracts with major clients in South Korea, Japan, and China, but it could do little to replace Russian gas supplies to Western Europe.

In particular, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida al-Kaabisaid last October that his country had reached the limit on gas supplies when gas shortages began in Europe, stressing that his country could not help Europe alone if Russia stopped gas supplies as tensions over Ukraine escalated.