One of the world’s top LNG exporters, Qatar, is threatening to stop shipping its gas to the European Union if the bloc moves to strictly enforce a new corporate sustainability directive with fines on non-compliant firms, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published this weekend.
Earlier this year, the EU formally adopted the corporate sustainability due diligence directive. These new EU-wide rules introduce obligations for large companies regarding adverse impacts of their activities on human rights and environmental protection. The EU directive is part of the bloc’s efforts to align companies with which it trades with the goal of reaching net zero by 2050.
It also lays down the liabilities linked to the company obligations in sustainability. If these companies are found to be non-compliant on corporate sustainability, including environmental impact, they could be fined with 5% of their annual global revenues.
Qatar’s al-Kaabi, who is also president and CEO of QatarEnergy, said if these rules were strictly enforced, Qatar’s state giant could drop business with the EU.
“If the case is that I lose 5 per cent of my generated revenue by going to Europe, I will not go to Europe . . . I’m not bluffing,” al-Kaabi told FT.
“Five per cent of generated revenue of QatarEnergy means 5 per cent of generated revenue of the Qatar state. This is the people’s money . . . so I cannot lose that kind of money — and nobody would accept losing that kind of money,” the official added.
The EU directive is facing backlash from other large corporations, while the EU needs Qatar’s LNG as much as any other source of additional gas supply that’s not from Russia.
QatarEnergy has signed 27-year deals with European majors including Shell, Eni, and TotalEnergies to supply LNG to EU countries from its huge expansion projects in Qatar set to begin operations in 2026 and 2027.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
