Qatar in agreement with Germany for energy supplies

/ Oil & Gas / Tuesday, 22 March 2022 05:05

Qatar has agreed a long-term energy partnership with Germany as the European country looks for ways to reduce its dependence on Russian gas for securing supplies for next winter.

German minister for economic affairs, Robert Habeck, secured the deal on a visit to Doha as part of efforts to diversify Germany's energy supply. The next step will be for the companies involved to "enter into the concrete contract negotiations.

Habeck had held talks in Doha with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, one of the world's three biggest exporters of liquified natural gas (LNG).

European states are increasingly counting on LNG as a means of weaning themselves off Russian gas in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Habeck will also be visiting the United Arab Emirates.

Berlin has come in for criticism over its opposition to an immediate embargo being imposed on Russian energy supplies as a means of choking off a major source of Moscow's foreign earnings.

But Germany believes a boycott could cripple its economy and saddle society with huge rises in energy prices as well as lead to shortages.

Habeck, also minister for climate affairs, has already recently visited another gas powerhouse Norway, as well as current top global exporter the United States.

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