Kviy: Ukraine’s president called on gas-rich Qatar and others to boost their energy exports to Europe in order to reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.
“Responsible states like the state of Qatar are reliable and solid exporters of natural resources, and they can make their contribution to the stabilization in Europe,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Doha Forum in Qatar’s capital on Saturday via a video address.
“The future of Europe rests with your efforts,” he said. “I ask you to increase the output of energy to ensure that everyone in Russia understands that no country can use energy as a weapon to blackmail the world.”
Russia supplies about 40 per cent of the European Union’s gas consumption, and the bloc has raced to find alternatives following the attack on Ukraine. The US and EU on Friday unveiled an agreement to boost shipments of liquefied natural gas to the continent. The US recently supplanted Qatar’s status as the world’s top supplier of LNG.
Europe has sought to diversify with pipelines from North Africa and the construction of LNG import facilities. Newly added shipments from US and Middle Eastern producers may pose challenges for European climate goals and take time to implement.