Qatar cut EU LNG supply over sustainability law, shows letter
Qatar threatened to stop gas deliveries to the European Union as a response to the bloc’s due diligence laws on forced labor and environmental damage. A letter sent by Qatar to the Belgian Government, which was seen by, revealed this.
Qatar is the third largest LNG exporter in the world, after the United States of America and Australia. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it has supplied between 12% to 14% of Europe’s LNG.
In a May 21 letter to the Belgian Government, Qatari Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi stated that the country was responding to the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), requiring larger companies operating within the EU to identify and correct human rights and environment issues in their supply chain.
The letter stated that "if CSDDD is not further changed, QatarEnergy and the State of Qatar will be forced to seriously consider other markets outside of EU for our products and LNG, which provide a more stable, welcoming and business-friendly environment."
The letter was reported first by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. A spokesperson from the Belgian representation in the EU refused to comment.
A spokesperson for the Commission said that it also received a May 13 letter from Qatar. The letter noted that EU legislators and countries are currently negotiating CSDDDD changes.
The spokesperson stated that "it is now up to them to negotiate and implement the substantive simplification amendments proposed by the Commission."
Brussels made changes to the CSDDD in order to reduce the requirements. This included delaying the launch of the CSDDD by one year to mid-2028 and limiting the number of checks that companies would have to perform along their supply chains.
Companies who fail to comply with the law could be fined up to 5% on their global turnover.
Qatar claimed that the EU's reforms had not gone as far as Qatar.
Kaabi stated that Qatar was concerned with the CSDDD requirement for companies to have a climate-change transition plan aligned towards preventing global temperatures from exceeding 1.5 degrees celsius, the goal of Paris Agreement.
The letter stated that neither QatarEnergy nor the State of Qatar have any plans in the near term to achieve net zero. It also said that the CSDDD violated the rights of countries to determine their own contributions to the Paris Agreement goals.
Qatar, in an annex of the letter that was also seen by, proposed to remove the section from CSDDD that includes the requirement for Climate Transition Plans.
Kaabi is also the chief executive officer of QatarEnergy. Qatar Energy has long-term contracts to supply gas with major European companies including Shell, TotalEnergies, and ENI. (Reporting and editing by David Holmes; Kate Abnett)
(source: Reuters)
