Qatar and the U.S. Warn EU of Gas Crunch Over Methane Regulation
Natural Gas Prices Set to Ease as Qatar Restores LNG Output Utilities are underestimating fuel-price risk,… What I Cover Irina Slav has been writing about global energy markets since 2007, covering the oil and gas industry, energy security, commodities, and the… The United States and Qatar have once again warned the European Union against doubling down on climate policies seeking to penalize the LNG industry, saying that if it continues on this course, the EU will face a gas crunch and higher prices.
“There is no viable path to compliance with the regulation”, the top energy officials of the U.S.
and Qatar, Chris Wright and Saad al-Kaabi, wrote in a letterquotedby the Financial Times.
“Because legal compliance remains paramount, exporters and importers alike are unwilling to enter into contractual agreements that knowingly violate EU law,” the U.S.
energy secretary and the Qatari energy minister also wrote.
“Significant supply and price impacts are a certainty.” The letter comes ahead of a meeting on Friday when the energy ministers of EU member states will discuss the policies of the bloc.
It was also signed by two other large gas suppliers to the European Union, Algeria and Nigeria, the FT also reported.
The so-called methane regulation, adopted by the European Union two years ago, aimed at reducing not only the bloc’s own emissions of the greenhouse gas that constitutes almost 100% of natural gas but also forcing countries outside the EU that do business with the bloc to cut their emissions as well, notably gas suppliers.
The regulation, starting this year, extends to all energy suppliers to the EU, and these suppliers were anything but happy about it.Related: U.S.
Crude Inventories Post Another Major Draw Both the United States and Qatar have already repeatedly warned the EU that they are unwilling to do business with it under the methane regulation that requires gas producers to track their methane emissions from the wellhead to the liquefaction plant and the LNG carrier after that, report them, and take pains to reduce these emissions, or face financial penalties.
Qatar was blunt about it, saying last year that if the EU was so concerned about methane emissions, they should look for some other source of LNG because Qatar would stop selling to the bloc.
Secretary Wright also said last year that the methane regulation was impossible to implement and described it as “a critical non-tariff trade barrier that imposes an undue burden on U.S.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
Comments
Post a Comment