Qatar to supply liquefied natural gas to Germany from 2026

DOHA, Qatar –

Qatar is to produce liquefied pure fuel to Germany below a 15-year deal signed Tuesday because the European financial powerhouse scrambles to interchange Russian fuel provides which were reduce through the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Officials gave no greenback worth for the deal, which might start in 2026. Under the settlement, Qatar would ship as much as 2 million tons of the fuel to Germany via an under-construction terminal at Brunsbuettel.

The deal entails each Qatar Energy, the nation’s state-run agency, and ConocoPhillips, which has stakes in Qatar’s offshore pure fuel subject within the Persian Gulf that it shares with Iran.

As European international locations have supported Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February, Moscow has slashed provides of pure fuel used to warmth houses, generate electrical energy and energy business. That has created an power disaster that’s fuelling inflation and rising stress on firms as costs have risen.

Germany, which bought greater than half its fuel from Russia earlier than the conflict, hasn’t acquired any fuel from Russia for the reason that finish of August.

The nation is constructing 5 liquefied pure fuel terminals as a key a part of its plan to interchange Russian provides, and the primary are anticipated to enter service shortly. Much of Germany’s present fuel provide comes from or by way of Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Germany’s drive to stop a short-term power crunch additionally consists of quickly reactivating previous oil- and coal-fired energy stations and increasing the lifetime of the nation’s final three nuclear energy crops, which had been presupposed to be switched off on the finish of this 12 months, till mid-April.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited Qatar in September, welcomed the deal, saying the long-term contract was necessary for Germany’s power safety.

“Overall we will ensure that we have a lot of different countries which ensure our energy supply,” Scholz mentioned. “As such, I’m confident that this is a further important building block for a house that we’ve already largely built.”