By Andrew Mills and Yousef Saba
DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar has no issues about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to raise a cap on liquefied (LNG) exports, Qatar’s Power Minister Saad al-Kaabi mentioned on Saturday, including his nation would deal with any competitors.
“And you know even if you open up LNG and say we’re going to export another 300 million tons from the U.S. or 500 million from the U.S., all these projects are driven by private enterprises that look at the commercial viability of projects,” Kaabi, who can be the chief govt of state-owned QatarEnergy, mentioned throughout the Doha Discussion board.
Requested concerning the impression of Trump’s return to the White Home on Qatar-U.S. relations, notably in power, Kaabi mentioned oil and gasoline tasks have been multi-decade plans and “survive governments”, however later added he thought Trump was “good for business”.
Kaabi mentioned the European Union ought to totally assessment the Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which would require bigger firms working within the bloc to verify if their provide chains use compelled labour or trigger environmental injury and act to take motion in the event that they do.
Kaabi mentioned the penalty could be up to five% of an organization’s complete worldwide income, including it might have far-reaching issues and hurt firms within the bloc in addition to companies working there.
“So to me, my message to Europe and to the EU Commission is that: are you telling us I don’t want your LNG into the EU? Because I sure am not going to supply EU with LNG to support their requirements for energy and then be penalized with my total revenue worldwide going to EU. So there’s something wrong there,” he mentioned.
He additionally mentioned the Qatar Funding Authority, the estimated $510 billion sovereign fund, and different institutional traders would think about investing elsewhere to keep away from penalties.
EU “economies are not doing great, so they need foreign direct investments and they need support,” he mentioned.