Before the EU imposed sanctions on Russian gas, Germany depended mostly on gas pipeline flows from Russia. Nowadays, the country is searching for new suppliers. The largest EU economy kickstarted negotiations with Qatar - one of the biggest players in the global energy market - to establish natural gas imports. Qatar has already launched supplies to Germany but cannot meet the demand as Germany lacks infrastructure capacity. “As you know, there is currently no terminal in Germany. Qatar is building the world’s largest ship fleet for exporting liquid gas,” Qatar’s Minister of Energy, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, said. Qatari authorities are building LNG carriers in China and South Korea. According to
Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, hundreds of ships are to be launched. Notably, €20 billion have been invested in their construction. Qatar produces 77 million tonnes of LNG yearly and plans to increase this figure to 126 million. Recently, Qatar-based QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips signed 15-year agreements to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany starting in 2026. The European country will receive 2 million tonnes of LNG a year. Amid Russia's gas supply cuts, Germany is now seeking ways to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas. Thus, new LNG imports have become a burning issue.
