The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, the leading gas exporters in the Middle East, have argued that they should increase investment in related sectors to keep gas prices stable.
14th (local time) Reuters· Qatari Energy Minister Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi said at the Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi earlier in the day that there is not much room for gas production at the moment, according to AFP news agency.
Al Kaabi, who is also chairman of state-owned energy company Qatar Energy, said: "Gas prices have fallen due to a warm winter this year, but given that production will not increase until 2025, future market volatility will remain for some time."
"Qatar is trying to increase the amount of gas to Europe, but there are limits," Al Kaabi said, predicting that "(gas prices) could become a problem if Europe tries to increase imports next year or later."
"At the moment, Europeans talk as if they won't use Russian gas again, but I think eventually Russian gas will end up in Europe," he said.
Qatar is one of the world's largest producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), along with the United States and Australia. The UAE is also focusing on its gas market in line with increased demand since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters explained.
European countries have been trying to secure heating fuels from countries such as the UAE and Qatar to secure reliable energy import routes to replace Russian gas after sanctions against Russia.
UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazruai also attended the forum and stressed the need for more investment, saying that while renewable energy production will increase in the future, gas will be needed for a considerable period of time.
"Policy uncertainty in many countries has made it difficult for energy companies to secure investment funds to improve their production capacity," Al-Mazruai said, stressing that "the world must think about how to produce more gas with less."
In an interview with local media, Al-Mazruai said the lack of investment had reduced the production capacity of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC Plus (OPEC+), a consultative group of major non-OPEC oil producers such as Russia, by 3.7 million barrels per day. [YonhapNews]