The Qatari authorities can divert gas supplied to the European Union to other states when it makes sense, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar's Minister of State for Energy and CEO of QatarEnergy, said.
"Nothing is permanent, and we have the right to do whatever we want with our [gas] volumes," the minister said in an interview with Bloomberg, referring to gas deliveries to the EU. "But it was a promise that we made for a certain period of time. When it makes sense for us to redirect [supplies], we will do that," he added.
As Bloomberg points out, Qatar has pledged to refrain from diverting gas supplies from Europe, but has the right to do so under contracts.
The energy crisis in the European Union worsened in early July when the first interruptions of gas supplies from Russia to a number of EU countries occurred, including problems with the maintenance of turbines for Nord Stream due to restrictions. The European Commission then called on EU countries to proactively prepare for a complete halt to Russian gas deliveries and introduced a plan to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15 percent across the community between August 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.
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Based on materials from TASS