DOHA (Archyde.com) – European Council President Charles Michel will hold talks in Qatar on Europe’s energy crisis during his visit to Doha this week, a Qatari government official said on Sunday.
Michel is expected to visit Qatar on Tuesday, according to his official schedule.
European governments have been seeking alternatives to Russian gas since Moscow sent its forces to invade Ukraine in late February, as energy costs in Europe soar and Russian flows decline.
State-owned Qatar Energy Company, one of the world’s largest exporters of natural gas, has been negotiating with several European buyers for months, but no new deals have been announced.
“Charles Michel will meet with a number of high-level officials to discuss and review regional and international issues, including the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the energy crisis, in addition to a number of other issues such as Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine and Israel,” the Qatari official told Archyde.com.
Most of Qatar’s current volumes of natural gas are tied to long-term contracts, especially with buyers in Asia, which Qatar has said it will honor.
Qatar’s deputy prime minister told a German newspaper in May that Qatar Energy could start supplying gas to Germany from the Golden Pass natural gas facility in the US state of Texas, in which it has a majority stake, from 2024.
In addition, Qatar is looking for new customers for a significant expansion of its gas production in early 2027, which will boost its exports by about 63 percent.