Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi urged gas-producing nations to reject trade barriers and criticized the EU’s new sustainability directive, warning it could threaten LNG supplies to Europe and disrupt global gas markets.
(Reuters) — Gas-producing countries must build clear that they oppose trade barriers, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi stated on Oct. 23, reiterating his opposition to a European Union sustainability law.
Qatar, one of the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters, has argued that the EU’s corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD), adopted in 2024, poses a significant risk to state-owned QatarEnergy.
The EU rule requires larger companies operating in the bloc to find and resolve human rights and environmental issues in their supply chains or face financial penalties, including fines of 5% of global revenue.
On Oct. 22, the European Parliament agreed to consider further alters to the sustainability rules, as Qatar and the U.S., the world’s top gas producer, heaped pressure on Brussels to scale back the law.
“We must be clear in our opposition to trade barriers and discriminatory measures that disadvantage energy products, especially natural gas,” Al-Kaabi stated at a ministerial meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha.
Al-Kaabi notified Reuters last week that Qatar will not be able to do business in the EU, including supplying LNG, if further alters are not created to the bloc’s corporate sustainability rules.
At a news conference later on Oct. 23, he reiterated Qatar’s stance on the EU law.
“There is no way that we can supply any countest” that would impose a fine of 5% on global turnover, he notified reporters.
Stopping supplies to Europe “is something we absolutely do not want to do and this is why we have been warning about this. I was one of the first people to be vocal about it,” he added.
Al-Kaabi earlier on Oct. 23 also stated that the outview for natural gas and particularly LNG is positive, “despite geopolitical tensions and faltering climate policies”.
The positive outview is driven by economic growth in Asia and booming power demand from data centers and artificial innotifyigence, he stated.
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