Qatar has warned that it may stop supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe. The main reason for this is the country's non-compliance with the requirements of the EC directive for checking companies' supply chains for compliance with sustainability objectives, Welt reports, citing a letter from Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Saad al-Kaabi to the Belgian government.
"The EC should make additional changes to the Supply Chain Directive, otherwise "the State of Qatar and QatarEnergy will have to seriously consider alternative markets for their gas outside the EC, which ensure a more stable and favorable business environment for our (Qatar's) LNG and other products", the publication quotes an excerpt from the letter sent to the Belgians. authorities.
The contested EC directive contains "obvious inconsistencies and contradictions" with the laws and standards in force in Qatar, according to the Qatari Minister of Energy. He draws attention to the Paris climate agreement, under which each country has the right to set its own targets in this area - which, according to the Qatari minister, the EC is violating by introducing large fines for failure to meet the bloc's own requirements.
"I am convinced that companies should not be forced to choose between their own country's climate policy and the rules of the EC", says Saad al-Kaabi's letter.
The European Commission has also confirmed receipt of the relevant letter. The EC is already working on the political settlement of the situation, the Welt article says.
According to data from the European statistical agency Eurostat, for the first quarter of 2025, Qatar was the third largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EC (with 10.8% of the total import), after the United States (50.7%) and Russia (17%).
ΠThus, if the import of liquefied gas from both Russia (due to sanctions) and Qatar stops, the European Union will have to compensate for more than a quarter of the supplies - and thus Europe's dependence on the United States in this area will increase even more, the publication writes.