Robert Habeck, Germany’s vice-chancellor and minister for economic affairs, has reached a long-term energy partnership with Qatar. As part of the deal, two LNG (liquified natural gas) terminals are to be fast-tracked in Germany.
Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, was in Qatar last week, as Germany desperately looks to secure its energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A spokesperson for the ministry announced on Sunday that Habeck had reached an agreement in Doha with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar. The next step is for the relevant companies to “enter into the concrete contract negotiations,” said the spokesperson.
Qatar is one of the world’s biggest supporters of natural gas, which a number of European states are turning to in order to reduce their reliance on Russian gas. Germany is particularly dependent on Russian gas, with 55 percent of the natural gas used in Germany coming from Russia. Germany is also heavily reliant on Russian coal and mineral oil.
Habeck has previously expressed his worry over Germany’s reliance on Russian energy, and has warned that Germany’s energy supplies have diminished recently. “If we do not obtain more gas next winter and if deliveries from Russia were to be cut then we would not have enough gas to heat all our houses and keep all our industry going,” Habeck told reporters prior to his trip.
Despite calls to immediately ban Russian gas imports, with ex-chancellor Angela Merkel even suggesting Germany close the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia, Habeck is adamant that an immediate boycott of Russian gas could have dire consequences.
Qatar’s energy ministry has stated that Germany will fast-track the development of two LNG terminals, which allow for the easy transport and import of natural gas in its liquified form. The ministry said that, in a meeting between Habeck and Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, “the German side confirmed that the German government has taken swift and concrete actions to fast-track the development of two LNG receiving terminals in Germany as a matter of priority to allow for the long-term import of LNG to Germany and that such scheme has the full support of the German government.”
Qatar has insisted on long-term contracts due to the high cost of investing in gas production, with Qatar planning to increase production by 50 percent. In fact, Qatar’s energy ministry said that years of talks with Germany never resulted in “definitive agreements due to the lack of clarity on the long-term role of gas in Germany’s energy mix and the requisite LNG import infrastructure.”