Qatari official says it will be ‘almost impossible’ to quickly replace Russian exports to Europe

A Qatari energy official warned on Tuesday that neither his country or any other single country has the capacity to replace Russia’s gas supplies to Europe with liquified natural gas (LNG) if those exports are cut off due to Russia’s actions against Ukraine.

Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs, said that his country’s volumes are locked up in long-term contracts, a majority of which with Asian buyers. Al-Kaabi said that the amount of divertable volumes that can be sent to Europe is only 10 to 15 percent, Reuters reported.

“Russia [provides] I think 30-40 percent of the supply to Europe. There is no single country that can replace that kind of volume, there isn’t the capacity to do that from LNG,” al-Kaabi said at a gas conference in Doha. “Most of the LNG are tied to long-term contracts and destinations that are very clear. So, to replace that sum of volume that quickly is almost impossible.”

Al-Kaabi’s remarks come as the European Union agreed to impose a round of economic sanctions against Russia for recognizing two separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine and moving Russian troops into those respective areas.

Along with the EU’s actions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he would be stopping the certification of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia.

Earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted that the EU would be able to survive the winter without Russia’s gas.

“For the time being, we would be able to replace the Russian gas with LNG [liquefied natural gas] deliveries that we get from our friends all over the world,” von der Leyen said, according to Politico, adding that Europe should accelerate its investments into sustainable energy to become more independent from Russian gas exports.

“A strong European Union cannot be so reliant on an energy supplier that threatens to start a war on our continent. Gazprom, a Russian state-owned company, is deliberately trying to store and deliver as little as possible,” she said.

As Reuters noted, the U.S. has recently approached other countries like Japan, asking that they reroute their gas supplies to Europe in the event of conflict. Japan has agreed to divert some of its LNG cargoes to Europe in response to requests from the U.S. and the EU.