Qatar, UAE energy ministers say gas will be needed for long time

The world will need natural gas for a long time and more investment is required to ensure supply security and affordable prices during the global energy transition, the energy ministers of the UAE and Qatar said on Saturday.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei, speaking at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Summi tin Abu Dhabi, said that "for a very long time, gas will be there" and that while more renewable energy would be installed, more investment was needed in gas as a base load.

"The whole world needs to think of resources and how to enable companies to produce more gas to make it available and affordable," Mazrouei said.

Saad al-Kaabi, Qatari state minister for energy, said that a mild winter in Europe had seen prices come down, but that volatility would remain "for some time to come" given there was not much gas coming into the market until 2025.

"The issue is what's going to happen when they (Europe) want to replenish their storages this coming year and the next year," he said.

Al Kaabi later told reporters that Qatar, which is working to expand its gas output, has limited volumes going to Europe that it would not divert away, "but there is a limit to what we can do".

Qatar is one of the world's top producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The UAE is an Opec oil producer that is sharpening its focus on the gas market as Europe seeks to replace Russian energy imports after supply cuts since Western sanctions were imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Qatari minister said he believed that Russian gas would eventually return to Europe.

Qatar's two-phase North Field expansion plan includes six LNG trains that will ramp up its liquefaction capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum to 126 million tonnes by 2027.