Germany and Qatar signed a Government level energy co-operation deal in Berlin last week.
Ongoing talks could lead to Qatar offering LNG shipments to Germany from Golden Pass, a new US liquefaction plant owned by Qatar Energy and ExxonMobil, from 2024, as a more-immediate source of gas.
Qatar’s huge expansion project is not scheduled to come online until 2026.
“We aim to have our LNG plant Golden Pass in Texas, 70% of which are owned by Qatar Energy, ready by 2024 so that we can deliver to Germany,” Deputy Premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the German newspaper Handelsblatt, according to newswires.
Europe is currently trying to find alternatives to gas from Russia - the continent’s biggest supplier - after the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Imports of LNG from Qatar and the US, the world’s largest exporters, are a key part of that solution.
“Whatever we can provide for energy security in Europe, even during this period, we will make sure that we can provide,” Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, told reporters at a press conference in Berlin, after he met with German Government officials.
The Emir and German Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, signed a joint declaration of intent last week, agreeing to broadly work together on energy.
A long-term LNG supply deal is still subject to negotiations.
Since Qatar is already producing well above its nameplate output capacity and has stressed that it won’t break contracts with Asian buyers, it has few options to help Germany meet its goal of eliminating Russian gas imports by 2024, Bloomberg said, reporting on the meeting.
However, German companies are reluctant to commit to 20 years or longer purchase contracts, due to their goal of cutting carbon emissions by 88% by 2040, a local source told the newswire.
To solve the problem, Germany has suggested that Qatar could auction rights for agreements of varying durations. This could allow German companies to bid for shorter-term contracts while importers from elsewhere could bid for longer contracts.
Destination clauses
At last Friday’s press conference, German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz hinted that Qatar would be ready to loosen its strict destination clauses, which prevent Berlin from re-routing Qatari gas from German import terminals to other European locations.
“There are several countries in Europe that don’t have access to the coastline and would like to diversify their gas supply via the northern German ports -- and here Qatar is playing a good role,” Scholz said.
He added that both sides recognised the Golden Pass project would have a cross-border dimension in Europe.
Scholz has promised to help eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which depend on Russian gas but don’t have access to ports.
Germany recently re-introduced previously postponed plans to construct two LNG import terminals at Brunsbuttel and Wilhelmshaven.
Meanwhile, the German transmission system operators (TSOs) has welcomed the efforts of the legislator to enable the integration of LNG into the existing gas supply network, as soon as possible by adopting a new law.
