According to HE Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the worst is yet to come for Europe in terms of oil and gas shortages if the country did not plan for a mix of all energy sources. He said during a panel discussion on the first day of the Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) which is happening in Doha.
During an interaction with Zawya, HE Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi said, “People talk about renewables as if it’s the ‘fix all’. If you look at renewables, you can generate electricity from wind and solar but you can’t manufacture plastics and things that you have in this room that are all manufactured.”
Kaabi issued a warning that the energy transition plans of governments will deter investment in fossil fuels and cause a natural gas shortage in the following ten years, notably in Europe.
He predicted a significant gas scarcity in the future during the “Energy Minister Outlook” session, mostly because of the rapid energy shift.
He said, “The only thing that saved humanity and Europe this year was the warm winter and the slowdown in the economy around the world. If the economy starts churning in 2024, and you have a reasonable, just a regular winter, I think the worst is yet to come if they don’t realise that and have a proper plan and sit down with producers and oil and gas companies and not demonise them.”
Kaabi further welcomed the G7’s final statement on the need for more LNG for global consumption and pointed out that the demand for gas from the expansion projects in Nordfeld Ost and Nordfeld Sud was very high.
He said Qatar is close to producing 126 million tons by 2026 and stresses the need to carefully consider future energy supply issues in order to achieve economic stability amid the crises some countries around the world are experiencing.
Image Credits: Qatar Government