Bloomberg: Washington wants to replace Russian gas in Europe with Qatari

Washington is negotiating with Qatar about possible supplies of natural gas to Europe if Russian supplies stop due to the “invasion of Ukraine.” Bloomberg writes about the negotiations, citing its sources.

US President Joe Biden intends to invite the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to Washington by the end of January. Biden is trying to allay Europe’s fears of cutting off Russian gas supplies if the conflict escalates in eastern Ukraine, the sources said.

Recall that earlier the United States has repeatedly said that it will “not allow” an energy crisis in Europe because of “Moscow’s gas blackmail”. Now Europe receives from Russia more than 40% of the consumed gas. Qatar is one of the world’s largest LNG producers, three-quarters of which are exported to Asian countries, Europe accounts for 5% of supplies. It is possible that Qatar will enter the European market as one of the main suppliers.

On January 17, it was reported that Gazprom had not booked the capacity of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline for the transit of fuel through Poland in February and the additional capacity of the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS). In total, the auction offered to book 89.1 million cubic meters of gas per day in the Polish section. Moreover, the company did not use the additional capacity of the Ukrainian GTS on the border with Russia, where it was offered 9.8 million cubic meters per day.

Previously, Gazprom explained that it does not use the Yamal-Europe route, as a number of clients, in particular from France and Germany, have already fully selected all their annual contract volumes. The company also called the accusations against it about limiting exports to Europe a lie and is ready to supply additional volumes of gas under long-term contracts and cheaper than spot.