Qatar’s energy minister warned on Tuesday that “the worst (is) yet to come” for oil and gas shortages in Europe, saying a warm winter had helped avoid greater difficulties in recent months.
The wealthy Gulf emirate, one of the world’s leading gas exporters, is seeking to sell long-term contracts with European states which, for the most part, have long refused despite their frantic quest for alternatives to Russian hydrocarbons.
“The only thing that saved humanity and Europe this year was a warm winter and a slowing economy,” Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi said during a briefing. forum in Doha.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Europeans feared a gas shortage due to sanctions against Moscow and rising prices on world markets.
“If the economy starts to take off in 2024 because of a normal winter, I think the worst is yet to come,” he said.
“If they don’t realize this, if they don’t have a proper plan, if they don’t demonize the oil and gas companies and if they don’t sit down with the producers”, the Europeans will have to face a “reality (which) will impose itself”, he warned.
Source: Burkina Information Agency