Doha – Sharq
HE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani stressed the importance of the stability of the energy market for the State of Qatar, and said that the stability of gas supplies and energy prices is an important issue for us.
His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said, in statements to a Singaporean station, that Doha continues to expand its natural gas investments to support market stability, stressing that the State of Qatar is committed to its concluded contracts, and it continues to supply natural gas to Asian and European countries.
And Moscow’s decision to stop pumping gas through the “Nord Stream-1” line indefinitely, raised widespread fears of an energy crisis in Europe during the next winter, as European countries raced to provide safe reserves of natural gas before winter came, at a time when Its prices are record levels, more than 10 times higher than they were a year ago.
The West accused Russia of turning natural gas into a weapon in the ongoing battle with Moscow, in response to the latter’s ongoing war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022.
Berlin announced its intention to use gas stocks and search for alternatives to Russian gas, and Paris decided to operate all its nuclear reactors. To secure the energy needs during the winter.
On Friday, Russia’s Gazprom announced that it would stop pumping gas to Europe through “Nord Stream-1” for an indefinite period, and justified its decision with malfunctions in the last turbine operating in the pipeline.
The decision to stop pumping through this pipeline indefinitely caused severe turmoil in European markets. In Germany, the Ministry of Economy announced a tension in the gas market, but stressed that “the security of supply is guaranteed.” The German Ministry reported that there had been significant progress in securing supplies of gas as an alternative to Russian gas. It revealed that gas storage levels currently exceed 84%.
As for Finance Minister Christian Lindner, he accused Russia of trying to profit economically from the instability in energy markets due to its war on Ukraine.
At the conclusion of a meeting of G7 finance ministers, Lindner called for steps to deprive Moscow of high revenues from oil and gas exports.
For its part, France announced that it will operate all its 56 nuclear reactors during the winter, in order to overcome any expected energy crisis. In France, too, Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher called for European solidarity to get through the coming winter without a shortage of energy supplies.
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken welcomed the decision of the Group of Seven to set a maximum price for Russian oil, and considered – in a tweet on Twitter – that the decision was a major step that deprived Putin of financing what he described as his unjustified war in Ukraine.
In turn, EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni said that the EU expects Putin to respect Russia’s contracts, adding that member states are ready for all possibilities.
The European Union considered that Moscow’s decision to stop exporting gas indefinitely to European countries is evidence of Moscow’s disregard for its obligations, and its preference for burning gas instead of respecting the signed contracts. “Gazprom’s closure of Nord Stream-1 under incorrect pretexts is another confirmation that it is an unreliable exporter,” said EU spokesman Peter Stano.
