While hosting the most popular sports event, FIFA World Cup, Qatar is hardly busy securing economic interest through energy contrast.
Two buying and selling contracts for the shipment of liquefied natural gas to Germany for one and a half decade beginning in 2026 have been inked by energy companies of the two sides. This will be Qatar’s North Field development program’s very first supply agreement with EU countries.
Two million tonnes of LNG per year will be shipped to Germany thanks to the arrangement. According to QatarEnergy’s CEO, the LNG is delivered from Ras Laffan in Qatar to Germany’s northern LNG port in Brunsbuettel.
In a joint press conference with ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance, CEO Saad Al Kaabi stated that the contract ” reflect the first ever long-term LNG strategic partnerships with Germany, with a supply timeframe that continues for at least 15 years, thereby assisting to Germany’s protracted energy supplies.”
The accord is reached as the financial juggernaut of Europe struggles to find other sources of Russian gas. During the current conflict in Ukraine, the supply was disrupted. The deal’s amount was not disclosed by the officials.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, European nations supported it. In return, Moscow reduced the amount of natural gas available for consumption in industry, home heating, and electricity production. As a result of the process, there is an energy dearth that is causing inflation and putting more pressure on businesses as prices rise.
Since three months ago, Germany has not obtained any LNG from Russia. Before the war, Russia supplied more than half of the country’s gas demands. The agreed-upon amounts will be purchased by a ConocoPhillips wholly-owned subsidiary and sent to the German receiving port.
Energy Crisis
German Economy Minister said at a business event in Berlin, “15 years is wonderful. I wouldn’t have objected to contracts lasting 20 years or more.”
He did, however, mention Germany’s intention to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. The regulation sets restrictions on the amount of gas that the nation will be able to import in the future.
If Germany is to achieve its lofty climate change objective, it must begin lowering its gas usage by the middle of the 2030s.
Germany’s efforts to avoid a short-term energy crisis also involve briefly restarting ageing coal- and oil-fired power plants. Additionally, it implies that the nation’s final three nuclear power facilities will operate until mid-April. By the end of 2022, they were expected to be turned off.
The deal was concluded just a few days after QatarEnergy and Sinopec in beijing inked a 27-year buying and selling contract. The North Field is a portion of the largest gas field in the world, South Pars, which Qatar and Iran jointly own.
Five contracts for North Field East (NFE), the first and largest portion of the two-phase North Field development plan, were signed by QatarEnergy months ago. It has six LNG trains, increasing Qatar’s ability to liquefy 126 million tonnes annually in five years from 77 million.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine less than 10 months ago, there has been fierce rivalry for LNG. S pecifically, Europe needs a lot to help restore the over 40% of Russian pipeline gas that the region used to buy. Al Kaabi stated few days ago that talks for additional supplies were still continuing on with other German businesses.
