Qatar's energy minister: increase in gas prices reflect lack of investments

Qatari energy minister said that there has to be more investment in the industry as he  warned that the energy transition narrative is not allowing new investment in oil and gas. His comments comes at a time where he said that the high gas prices reflect a lack of investment and shortage in supply.

“There’s a euphoria around the energy transition that’s forcing companies not to invest,” said Minister of Energy affairs . “People should not forget that new investments are needed to just keep output sustained. People are now realizing there’s a supply crunch and we haven’t even got into the winter season yet.”

“There is a deficit in the market which caused this pricing and we dont like to see that, we want our customers around the world to have a reasonable price that is sustainable for them and for us,” he told the reporters on the sidelines of Gastech in Dubai.

Gas prices have increased by around 280 percent in Europe this year and by more than 100 percent in the United States.

"We don’t want these high prices, we don’t think it's good for consumers,” he told a group of reporters commenting on the prices of gas in Asia. He explained that they are looking for pricing in between, not as low as 2$ but not as high as $20 He said; however, he doesn't discuss pricing strategy.

Al Kaabi also added that his company, Qatar Petroleum, will have 64 million tonnes of LNG coming to the market between 2025-2027, accounting for 15 percent of current global production.