Qatar has not approached its Asian customers over diverting gas to Europe, Qatar Energy chief and minister of state for energy Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters, adding that if Russia does not supply the region the gap could not be filled by one country.
Earlier this week, a source told Reuters that Qatar would need U.S. help persuading its buyers to divert gas to Europe, where some 30%-40% of gas needs are met by Russia.
"No discussions have taken place...this has not happened," Kaabi told Reuters in Doha when asked if Qatar had approached any of its Asian buyers. Qatar sells most of its LNG to Asia on long-term oil-indexed contracts.
Industry sources and analysts say only 8%-10% of Qatar's LNG is available for diversion to Europe, and even this will need time as it takes longer to ship to Europe than to Asia.
Any disruption to Europe would worsen an already existing energy crisis caused by a global shortage of oil and gas.
Kaabi said global "energy poverty" was a real possibility should investments in hydrocarbons continue to lag.
"Globally, the industry is not investing enough in the oil and gas sector, and gas especially," Kaabi said, adding that he would not have predicted prices rising as high as they have.
"The energy situation will remain like this for a while unless the narrative changes to acknowledge that gas will be a necessary part of the energy transition," Kaabi said, adding: "Otherwise, the world won't have enough supply...there will be energy poverty for sure."
