Germany consults energy collaboration with Qatar.
BERLIN: The German government discussed energy supplies with Qatar this week as part of its efforts to lessen its reliance on Russian oil and gas, according to the federal chancellery’s state secretary.
“We discussed bilateral cooperation, particularly in energy and corporate investments,” Joerg Kukies said on Twitter, adding that he spoke with Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Wednesday.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is also the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund chairman.
Germany is set to shut down its last nuclear power facilities this year and plans to develop its first LNG terminal in the next two years.
Qatar is one of the countries that the US has lately engaged about rerouting gas supply to Europe. As a result, the country has stated that 10-15% of its LNG shipping volumes could be diverted.
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It intends to increase LNG production capacity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027, up from the current 77 million tonnes.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Friday that the EU is working on measures to phase out its reliance on Russian gas, oil, and coal in five years.
In less than a year, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Germany, independent of Russian coal and oil.
“We say farewell to Russian imports to some extent every day, in fact, every hour,” Habeck told the weekly. “If it works, we’ll be coal-independent in the autumn and practically oil-independent by the end of the year.”
He explained that gas was more problematic since Germany could not import LNG. An immediate embargo on supplies may result in supply bottlenecks, an economic downturn, and high inflation next winter.
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