Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy, H E Eng. Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi speaking during the forum, yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy, H E Eng. Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi said, governments’ energy transition policies will discourage investment in fossil fuels and lead to natural gas scarcity in the next decade, including in Europe.
Addressing a panel discussion titled ‘Energy Minister Outlook’ held yesterday at Qatar Economic Forum, Minister Al Kaabi said, “There is going to be a big shortage of gas in the future, predominately because of the energy transition push that we would say is very aggressive. Because if you look at economic stability and environmental responsibility, they are not mutually exclusive, you have to have both.”
“If you look into the future whether it is gas or oil, there is going to be shortage due to the decade-long lack of investment,” he added.
Al Kaabi further noted, “I am thrilled that G7 in their final communique has said we need more LNG to be supplied to the world, we have been saying this for the last ten years.
“We are producing 77 million tonnes per annum of LNG today and we are going to go for 126 million tonnes per annum in Qatar and it’s on track and all the contracts have been awarded.”
Speaking about contracts in this year, Al Kaabi said, “We signed contract with China and we have other deals that we are working on.
With so many deals we are lining up people to negotiate with. There is a potential that we will run out of all the gas from the North Field East and North Field South by the end of the year, as far as long-term contracts, that’s how busy we are. There is a very big demand.”
The Minister of State for Energy Affairs said, “You need a mix of all energy sources and people need to realise this. You need oil, gas, and renewables.”
“Renewables are for generating electricity, but it does not solve the problem as the countries need a proper energy mix. The signal from the G7 attests to that and I see that it is already changing, and people are realising this.”
Al Kaabi noted that the only thing that saved humanity and Europe this year was a warm winter and the slow down in the economy worldwide. “If the economy starts churning back up in 2024, and you have a regular winter, I think the worst is yet to come.”
On the possibility of Qatar increasing its capacity to more than 126 million tonnes annually, the Minister said, “When the right time comes and technically, we can do it, we will definitely do more.”
Minister of Energy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia H R H Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud affirmed the continuation of work with the OPEC + agreement in accordance with the preemptive, preventive and precautionary measures taken by OPEC and its allies. He said, “We in Saudi Arabia have a vision 2030 which is our main drive and everything revolves around it. Today we are dealing with volatile situation and we have to deal with it realistically in an amicable way but not losing sight of our future trajectory.
“We have to deal with matters realistically and have a proactive view of what might happen in the future in the global economy,” he added. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Oil, Republic of Iraq, H E Hayan Abdul Ghani AlSawad said, “We were keen in Iraq to abide by the decisions of OPEC to ensure price stability in global markets, despite the problems we are experiencing.”
He said, “As per latest agreement of Opec and Opec+ we the representatives of Iraq, are committed to put into place the results and the outcomes of the last meeting. We are committed to reducing oil supplies but without affecting the world economy.”
