The much-heralded gas from Qatar has not materialized – apparently no German energy companies have yet concluded a deal with the Gulf state’s suppliers. Was Robert Habeck’s trip in vain?
MUNICH – Some were shocked, others found it brave: as economy minister Robert Habeck He flew to Doha in March, shook hands with sheikhs and even bowed to Qatar’s energy minister. “You now have to talk to partners who have their own idiosyncrasies,” the Green politician said at the time. The message was that he had no choice. The trip seemed to have paid off: a “wonderful” one Energy partnership firmly agreed, Habeck announced. Even more: Qatar is open to renewable energies and even greater climate protection in the long term. Now, nearly five months later, that deal seems long forgotten.
Does Qatar’s kneel-down liquefied gas deal explode?
The message falls on itself Habeck an angry crowd of demonstrators in Bayreuth a week ago had asked “The Qataris have decided not to make a good offer,” the economy minister said Build Said on his summer trip. “The companies I was with at the time got gas elsewhere at this time.” The much-heralded Qatar deal imploded. It’s unclear how long Habeck knew this.
EnBW, RWE, Vattenfall, E.On and Lex Uniper are still without an agreement with Qatar
At the request of our editors, the Union Ministry of Economy could not comment on or confirm Habek’s statement. That’s it: the central government itself does not enter into any agreements with supplier countries. “Companies do contracts and here you have to ask the companies if the contracts were completed and what the conditions were and are,” says a spokesperson. A study by Pay attention online None of the major German energy companies, such as EnBW, RWE, Vattenfall, E.On and Lex Uniper, have yet signed contracts with suppliers from Qatar.
The “energy partnership” that Habeck has decided with Qatar is symbolic in nature: no delivery dates or specific gas volumes are specified. In contrast, Italy recently struck a multibillion-dollar deal with Qatar. A month ago, state-owned energy supplier Eni announced a deal with Qatar Energy for a major liquefied natural gas project. Both the countries are willing to cooperate with each other for 27 years.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the central government is temporarily exchanging gas or hydrogen with several countries that can supply it. “This includes Qatar, but also many other countries such as Norway, Canada and the United States,” it says. The fill level of German natural gas storage facilities is currently slightly above 70 percent. A new regulation requires German storage facilities to be at least 75 percent full by September 1. 85 percent on October 1 and 95 percent on November 1.
Blackout from heaters
As stated therein Build The government fears heating failure in millions of homes if gas shortages occur in winter. It emerged from an unofficial transition conference between Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) and the state presidents of the federal states. The concern is that pressure on gas networks will drop once gas shortages occur. As a result, heaters can go out – and residents have to call in handymen to turn them back on.
Kerstin Andreae, head of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), warns against scaremongering: “Household customers are protected customers,” she tells our newspaper. They are the first to supply gas in an emergency. Andrea sees a big danger in the fact that many people now buy fan heaters out of fear. “Due to their very high power requirements, such devices lead to high costs, but can overload power grids,” he says.
No The government member is currently as popular as Robert Habeck. It has nothing to do with his technical decisions. But how he expresses them.
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