Qatar will spend US$11.6 billion (10 billion euro) on investments in Germany that will include participation in the construction of an LNG terminal, the kingdom’s ruler, Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, said at an investment conference in Germany, as quoted by Reuters. The investment will be made over five years.
The emirate, which is the world’s top LNG exporter, has already poured US$29 billion (25 billion euro) in various Germany ventures, including investments in Volkswagen and Deutsche bank. The emir added that the new investment is a sign of Qatar’s “trust in the strength of the German economy and the importance of investing in it.”
Reports about Qatari interest in building an LNG terminal in Germany emerged earlier this week, when the chief executive of Qatar Petroleum told Germany business daily Handelsblatt during the same investment conference.
“We have a serious interest in participating in a German LNG terminal and are talking to Uniper and RWE,” Saad al-kaabi told Handelsblatt, as related by Reuters. However, a spokeswoman for RWE at the time said the talks with Qatar Petroleum concerned natural gas deliveries rather than any participation in an LNG terminal.
Germany is the largest economy and also the largest energy consumer in Europe. It receives its gas by pipeline and recently attracted criticism from President Trump for its overreliance on Russia’s Gazprom, but there is an LNG terminal project in progress. Aptly named German LNG Terminal, the project is a partnership between two Dutch companies—Nederlandse Gasuine and Vopak—and German Oiltanking.
German LNG Terminal this week signed its first capacity rights contract with RWE after an open season seeking to gauge energy companies’ interest in the facility that will have a capacity of 5 billion cu m of LNG.
Commenting on the Qatari Emir’s statement, Chancellor Angela Merkel noted the attractiveness of Germany’s energy industry as an investment destination, adding that an LNG terminal will help the country diversify its gas supply sources.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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