By Andrew Mills and Yousef Saba
DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar has no concerns about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to lift a cap on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said on Saturday, adding his country would cope with any competition.
“And you know even if you open up LNG and say we’re going to export another 300 million tons from the U.S. or 500 million from the U.S., all these projects are driven by private enterprises that look at the commercial viability of projects,” Kaabi, who is also the chief executive of state-owned QatarEnergy, said during the Doha Forum.
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Asked about the impact of Trump’s return to the White House on Qatar-U.S. relations, particularly in energy, Kaabi said oil and gas projects were multi-decade plans and “survive governments”, but later added he thought Trump was “good for business.
Kaabi said the European Union should thoroughly review the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which will require larger companies operating in the bloc to check if their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage and act to take action if they do.
Kaabi said the penalty can be up to 5% of a company’s total worldwide revenue, adding it would have far-reaching complications and harm companies in the bloc as well as firms operating there.
“So to me, my message to Europe and to the EU Commission is that: are you telling us I don’t want your LNG into the EU? Because I sure am not going to supply EU with LNG to support their requirements for energy and then be penalized with my total revenue worldwide going to EU. So there’s something wrong there,” he said.
He also said the Qatar Investment Authority, the estimated $510 billion sovereign fund, and other institutional investors would consider investing elsewhere to avoid penalties.
EU “economies are not doing great, so they need foreign direct investments and they need support,” he said.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills and Yousef Saba. Writing by Yousef Saba and Menna Alaa El Din. Editing by Mark Potter)
