DOHA —
Qatar's energy minister told the EU on Tuesday
that his country could not rescue Europe alone if Russia turned off gas
supplies amid spiking tensions over Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
But the minister, Saad Al-Kaabi, told EU Energy Commissioner
Kadri Simson that Qatar was ready to help Europe "in times of need".
The US has raised the possibility of Qatar, one of the
world's leading gas producers, supplying Western European nations in talks,
officials said.
The Ukraine crisis was a key topic in a meeting on Monday
between US President Joe Biden and Qatar's
Emir
Sheikh Tamim bin HamadAl-Thani.
In a video conference, Kaabi told the EU official that Qatar
hoped the tensions in Europe could be resolved through diplomacy.
"Qatar stands ready to support our partners around the
world in times of need," he said.
But "the volume of gas needed by the EU cannot be
replaced by anyone unilaterally, without disturbing supplies to other regions
around the world. Europe’s energy security requires a collective effort from
many parties," he added.
Qatar has said it is already working at full production and
experts have said Europe could only get emergency supplies if key customers in
East Asia, including Japan and South Korea, agreed to divert some of their
consignments.
The US has also spoken with Australia about providing gas
and could provide its own natural gas.
Without mentioning any special deliveries, Kaabi said Qatar
was proud "to have never missed a single cargo delivery for the last 25
years to all our partners around the world".
"Keeping our contractual word is sacrosanct in
Qatar,
and therefore we have the full trust of our global commercial partners and
buyers."
Industry experts have warned that European consumers,
already reeling from high prices for natural gas, would have to pay even more
for the special deliveries.
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