On Friday, Russian energy supplier Gazprom said it will not resume natural gas supplies to Germany via the crucial Nord Stream 1 pipeline, blaming a malfunctioning turbine.
Hannibal Hanschke | Reuters
The European Union’s rejection of Russian energy resources after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine will not last endlessly, Qatar’s energy minister said at a weekend energy conference.
“The Europeans are saying today that there isn’t a way we’re going back” to buying Russian gas, said Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, energy minister and head of state-owned gas company QatarEnergy, on the Atlantic Council’s Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.
“We’re all blessed to give you the option to forget and forgive. And I believe things will get well over time… they’re learning from the situation and probably have quite a bit more variety [of energy intake]”.
Europe has long been the biggest recipient of most of Russia’s energy resources, especially natural gas. EU countries have dramatically reduced imports of Russian energy supplies, imposing sanctions in response to Moscow’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Gas exports from Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom to Switzerland and the EU fell by 55% in 2022, the corporate said earlier this month. Cuts in imports have dramatically increased energy costs in Europe, forcing oil and gas leaders and CEOs to seek latest energy sources and support alternative supplies.
“But in my view, Russian gas is coming back to Europe,” said al-Kaabi.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has to this point claimed tens if not a whole bunch of hundreds of lives, destroyed entire cities and displaced over 8 million people as refugees. Russian missiles and drone strikes usually hit and decimate residential buildings, schools, hospitals and vital energy infrastructure, leaving tens of millions of Ukrainians without power.
An apartment constructing destroyed after a Russian missile attack on January 15, 2023 in Dnieper, Ukraine.
Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images | News Getty’s paintings
This winter, Europe managed to avoid a significant crisis thanks to mild weather and significant gas stockpiles built up over the past 12 months. Energy officials and analysts warn of a more uncertain situation towards the top of 2023, when these supplies run out.
“Fortunately they [Europe] they did not have very high demand for gas due to the warmer weather,” al-Kaabi said. market to 25, 26, 27… So I believe it’s going to be a volatile situation for some time.”
Later within the conference, CNBC spoke to the CEO of Italian energy company Eni, Claudio Descalzi, who dismissed the Qatari minister’s remarks.
“I believe the war continues to be occurring and it’s demanding to forgive anyone when innocent people, women and children are killed and hospitals are bombed,” Descalzi Hadley Gamble told CNBC. “So I believe as an alternative of forgiving, we’d like to understand the life meaning of our words. For our modern war, since it is [what is] is occurring there. So when we speak about energy security, we’re talking about financing the way you spend your money, how much in gas, how much in renewables, and you think that persons are killing near you or removed from you… That is a priority, that is something we’d like to address.”
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“Otherwise,” the CEO added, “there may be a big elephant within the room. We hide such things from ourselves, and when we hide something [it] comes back larger. In the event you forgive, it means you do not take a look at it, you do not think we’d like to solve this sort of problem.”
Descalzi said that the war in Ukraine and energy security are priorities for him and his industry. Italy has dramatically reduced its dependence on Russian gas, replacing it with energy sources from alternative producers resembling Algeria. On Sunday, Eni announced a latest gas discovery in an offshore field within the eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Egypt.
“Truthfully, energy security is a giant concern … but I believe Ukraine is the priority in 2023,” Descalzi said. That is from my standpoint. It’s Russia. It’s the connection with China.”
“I’m not a politician,” he added, “but I believe you’ll be able to’t manage money and speak about it and speak about energy and industry – it’s clear that in case you don’t take a look at it, a whole lot of people will suffer” … But then again Alternatively, you speak about freedom, democracy and people who find themselves dying.
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