The US “Bloomberg” agency, quoting informed sources, reported that President Joe Biden’s administration officials spoke with Qatar about the possibility of supplying Doha to Europe with liquefied gas in the event that Russia invaded Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, two informed sources said that US officials want to help ease Europeans’ concerns about how to heat their homes this winter.
The agency pointed out that some European countries have expressed fears that imposing sanctions on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis will harm their economies, and prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to cut or reduce gas supplies to Europe in the middle of winter.
Europe gets more than 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and about a third of Russian gas flowing to Europe passes through Ukraine.
Qatar is one of the world’s largest LNG producers, with about three-quarters of this fuel sold to energy-poor Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. Qatar provides about 5% of Europe’s natural gas.
The Qatari embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this news, according to Bloomberg.
