Qatar is ready to help the UK with the cost of living crisis, the country’s energy minister has said, but has also criticized Western countries that spent years “demonizing oil and gas companies”.
In an exclusive interview, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said that years of pushing a rapid end to fossil fuel production and calling producers the “bad guys” had contributed to the current crisis.
He told Sky News that the root causes of the recent rise in gas and energy prices in Europe and beyond can be traced back many years before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s definitely a deeper issue,” he said, noting that investment in gas production has fallen steadily in recent years, as Europe pushed for the elimination of carbon emissions rather in an effort to combating climate change.
“There was an accumulation of countries pushing [energy] transition in a hard way. [They pushed for] clean up zero, move to renewables, eliminate fossil fuels and demonize oil and gas companies, [calling them] the bad guys. I [as a result] you don’t have enough investment in the oil and gas sector. “
Image: Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi is Qatar’s Minister of Energy
The comments came when a delegation from Qatar, led by the country’s leader, the Emir, met with Boris Johnson to announce a “strategic investment partnership” under which Qatar will invest up to £ 10 billion in the United Kingdom.
However, with the Ofgem energy regulator stating that the maximum price will rise to £ 2,800 this winter, the highest level recorded, there is little instant remedy for wholesale prices for gas facing the UK .
The Minister of Energy said: “The wind does not always blow, and the sun does not shine all the time … We are absolutely convinced that this transition cannot be achieved. [to renewables] without fossil fuels. And the best fossil fuel available to mankind is gas. “
Qatar has the third largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and is now one of the largest suppliers of fuel in the UK, shipping it in large liquefied natural gas tanker vessels to the UK’s three LNG terminals.
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The minister said the UK was “in better shape than many other countries”, but that Qatar could not do much to lower the price in the short term.
“It simply came to our notice then [and the price is] amplified by the question of Ukraine, “he said.
“But we are absolutely prepared [to help]. The United Kingdom is a very important country for us in Europe, and we will certainly do our best. “