Germany Discussed Energy Cooperation with Qatar

Germany Discussed Energy Cooperation with Qatar

The German government, working to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, discussed energy supplies with Qatar this week, the federal chancellery's state secretary said on Saturday.

"We discussed bilateral cooperation particularly in energy and corporate investments," Joerg Kukies said on Twitter, adding he talked to Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who also heads the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund, on Wednesday.

Germany is to close its last nuclear power plants this year and plans to build its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal within two years, AFP said.

Qatar is one of the countries that recently have been approached by the United States to reroute gas supplies to Europe. The country has said it could divert probably 10-15% of its LNG shipping volumes. It plans to raise LNG production capacity to 126 million tons a year by 2027 from 77 million tons at present.

The European Commission is working on plans to phase out the EU's dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal in five years following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its head Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung he planned to make Germany independent of Russian coal