Dispute over the duration of the contract
Gas deal with Qatar fails
05/10/2022 11:31 am
In view of the Ukraine war, Germany wants to do without Russian gas as quickly as possible. For this, however, the federal government needs new partners. A promising one is Qatar. The deal seems secure, but negotiations are proving difficult.
According to insiders, the negotiations about liquid gas deliveries from Qatar for Germany are going slowly. The main reason is that Qatar insists on long-term supply contracts for at least 20 years, people familiar with the talks told the Reuters news agency.
However, the German negotiating partners have little interest in this, since Germany wants to be climate-neutral by 2045. According to the latest legislative proposals passed by the cabinet, the energy sector should be able to manage with practically no CO2 emissions as early as 2035. That would mean that no more gas can then be used for heating or electricity generation. For the next few years, however, Germany will need liquid gas to replace Russian pipeline gas.
The Federal Ministry of Economics made no comment on request, nor did the government of Qatar. The gas importers Uniper and RWE also did not want to comment on the talks.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck visited Qatar in March and then reported on an energy partnership. According to insiders, the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, wants to come to Germany in May and sign an agreement there. However, this does not mean that supply contracts have already been agreed, said people familiar with the visit plans.