The Energy Minister of the Gulf emirate stated on Wednesday that Qatar plans to finalize new long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contracts this year to meet soaring global demand.
QatarEnergy, the state-owned hydrocarbon giant, inked contracts for 25 million tonnes of LNG last year and is set to sign more this year, said Saad al-Kaabi, who also heads the company.
“It’s simply about agreeing on terms, conditions, and prices…but I believe there’s huge demand, whether in Asia or Europe,” he added at the Qatar Economic Forum.
“Even Europe, I think, has realized they need to do differently to secure the long term,” he further remarked.
Qatar stands as one of the world’s largest LNG producers alongside the United States and Australia.
While Asian nations like China, Japan, and South Korea remain key clients, European countries are increasingly courting the emirate for alternatives to Russian gas post-Ukraine invasion.
In February, Qatar announced new projects to ramp up production from the world’s largest natural gas field, shared with Iran, aiming to boost capacity to 142 million tonnes per year by 2030.
According to Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar may go even further. “Qatar’s technical capacity to do more will be evaluated in the future, and if there’s more, we’ll probably do more,” he said.
In recent months, Qatar has struck several LNG supply deals, including with French Total, British Shell, Indian Petronet, Chinese Sinopec, and Italian Eni.