'Everything that is going on today in pricing is fundamentally because of a lack of investments and that will take time to catch up,' he said.Īsked whether European consumers would have to pay more because of the Ukraine crisis, he said: 'Predicting how prices will be, (whether they) will go up or down, that is in God's hands not mine, I cannot comment on the future.' Qatar and other producer nations want long-term contracts of up to 25 years to 'underpin' the huge investments made in extracting, processing and transporting gas. Kaabi said 10 to 15 per cent of shipments under Qatar's long-term contracts could potentially be diverted.īut he insisted that the record prices in Europe had their roots in a lack of investment before the Ukraine crisis.Īlso Read | Why Vladimir Putin is so confident in his Ukraine strategy – he has a trump card in China

'We are ready to supply more and we are working on that,' he said of requests made by the European Union. Qatar's supplies are also tied up in long-term contracts, many with Asian countries including Japan, South Korea and China. It would be 'virtually impossible' for one country to replace that amount of gas, Kaabi told a press conference. Russia accounts for about 40 per cent of the European market and Qatar five per cent.

The United States has asked Qatar to help Europe if supplies are cut, but its Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said that his country could not rescue Europe alone. Russia's Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov made no reference to the tensions but he told the forum that 'Russian companies are fully committed to existing contracts' for gas supplies. With Russia a key member of the exporters' forum, the Ukraine crisis was not mentioned in talks, officials said, or the final statement. Germany responded by freezing the huge gas pipeline from Russia.Īlso Read | UK to immediately impose hard economic sanctions on Russia: Johnson Leaders and ministers from the 11-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum met after Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognised two breakaway regions of Ukraine as independent and sent in troops. The Gulf state's energy minister said his country would help Europe as much as possible, but that the unprecedented prices paid by Europe's consumers were 'in God's hands'. Qatar's emir, who hosted the talks, said gas producers were working to ensure 'credible and reliable' supplies as Europe's fears over supplies from Russia were further hit by Germany's decision to halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Major gas exporting nations said Tuesday they could not guarantee prices or supplies at a summit overshadowed by the worsening Ukraine crisis which has pushed costs to record highs in Europe.

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