Germany, Qatar at odds over terms in talks on LNG supply deal
AlArabiya: Germany, Qatar at odds over terms in talks on LNG supply deal: Sources
Germany and Qatar have hit difficulties in talks over?long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG)?supply deals amid differences over key conditions, including the duration of any contract, three people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Germany, which aims to cut its carbon emissions by 88 percent by 2040, is reluctant to commit to Qatar’s conditions to sign deals of at least 20 years to secure the massive LNG volumes it needs to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, the people said.
Qatar, the world’s largest LNG supplier, is also specifying terms such as a destination clause that would prevent Berlin from rerouting the gas to other areas in Europe, a condition which the European Union opposes.
The tough talks between Qatar Energy and German utilities highlight the challenges the EU faces in its ambition to diversify away from Russian gas as the German government struggles to balance any deal with its carbon reduction targets.
Germany consumes around 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually, with around 55 percent of that coming from Russia and smaller volumes piped from Netherlands and Norway.
It has backed the construction of two LNG terminals and has rented four floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) as a stop-gap measure.
What it needs now is the actual LNG.
“The issue of LNG contract length potentially putting Germany’s decarbonisation targets at risk is part of the ongoing discussions with Qatar,” one of the people said, adding Germany was also competing with other nations for LNG from Qatar.
Another source said that securing LNG supplies form Qatar “is not expected to happen soon.”
Qatar’s government communication office declined to comment on ongoing negotiations. Germany’s Economy Minister was not immediately available for comment.
Qatar is also firm on oil-indexation, linking the contracts to oil price, which represents the pricing structure of their alternative sales into Asia, while the Germans are seeking linkage to the Dutch TTF benchmark, Felix Booth, head of LNG at energy intelligence firm Vortexa, said.
“Qatar is in the driving seat in these discussions, with a new project underway, strong interest in their volumes and a long history as a reliable supplier,” Booth said.
“To secure this supply, it is expected that the German team will need to accept a traditional oil linked pricing structure.
Leaving the European buyer with significant financial exposure compared to the European hub prices,” he added.
Quid pro quo
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck in March visited Qatar, along with officials from German utilities RWE and Uniper, to discuss procuring additional volumes but no deal has been agreed so far.
RWE, Germany’s largest power producer, in 2016 struck a deal with Qatargas, a unit of Qatar Energy, under which up to 1.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas will be delivered to Northwestern Europe annually by the end of 2023.
RWE declined to comment on the talks. Uniper also declined to comment, saying only that its ties with Qatar go back a long way and that it hoped to be able to build on that relationship.
German gas companies will be back to Qatar in May to resume talks, two separate people familiar with the process said.
They said that Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, will visit Germany in the second half of May to sign a partnership agreement between the two countries.
However, this does not mean that long-term LNG deals will be concluded, as the partnership is aimed at paving the way to significantly ramp up long term Qatari LNG deliveries to Germany, they added.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the QIA, has around $20 billion invested in Germany, with stakes in Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank.
Germany hopes for a possible two-way partnership with Qatar where German companies such as Siemens Energy and others could help Doha with its attempts to put into action a sustainability plan it launched late last year.
“There needs to be a gentlemen’s agreement between the Qataris and German companies, that LNG should only be the first step in a longer collaboration between the two countries,” said one of the people, a German industry source.
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Putin: “We are talking about neo-Nazis in Ukraine that the US and its partners are working with.”
Putin: Ukraine operation was prompted by “NATO’s pursuit of our territory”
“We shall do everything so that the horror of a world war does not happen again,” said Russian President Vladmir Putin on Monday, May 9, at the annual Victory Parade marking Nazi Germany’s WWII defeat. Addressing 11,000 troops marching in Moscow’s Red Square, Putin accounted for the Ukraine invasion by accusing Nato of “actively pursuing our territory. That is absolutely unacceptable to us,” he said. “We are talking about neo-Nazis in Ukraine that the US and its partners are working with.”
?Foreign military attaches attending the event noted the unusually small number of tanks and armored vehicles taking part in the parade. The usual air force flyby, was moreover cancelled, including Russia’s “doomsday” plane, an IL-80 des designated as the president’s command post for the conduct of nuclear warfare. It was called off because of “weather conditions.” However, despite some cloud cover, the flyby could have taken off. At the same time, the parade showcased a large number of nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Russian president refrained from using the occasion to declare war on Ukraine, although he was widely expected to do so. The “special military operation” designation that accompanied the Feb. 24 invasion remained unchanged.???
A prominent figure at the event was Defense Minister Gen. Sergei Shoigu, who reviewed the parade from an open vehicle and then marched alongside Putin along the lines of troops. A visible effort was evidently made to counteract rumors in the West of the minister’s failing health.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov used the occasion to announce that Russia “is developing new-generation hypersonic missiles to carry out strikes from air, land and sea.”
Hackers planted a message on the screens of Russian television broadcasting the national parade. It said: “The blood of thousands and hundreds of Ukrainian children is on your hands!”
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The US Makes Inroads Into Russia’s Periphery
With Moscow distracted, Washington is forging ties in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.
领英推荐
?-May 9, 2022
Countries at war tend to use all the resources they can realistically spare to achieve their desired outcome. The obvious drawback is that the war effort can de-prioritize other important affairs, or can leave the state vulnerable to elements at home and abroad that would like to challenge its power. Such is the case with Russia in Ukraine.
The West in general, and the U.S. in particular, is probing Russian positions at other points in the country’s periphery, including the Caucasus and Central Asia, where Russian power is as much economic as it is martial.
Opportunism
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no small matter. Fuel and supplies must be procured and sent, soldiers must be rotated, and injuries and damaged equipment both require repair. It demands vast sums of money that for the Kremlin are increasingly in short supply. Put simply, a lot of Russia’s time, attention and materials are concentrated to its west.
This leaves other areas in Russia’s periphery less attended to. These include the Central Asian countries that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, prioritized building their economies and practicing neutrality so that international conflict wouldn’t hurt their unstable economies. These also include the South Caucasus, a transit hub between Asia and Europe and a supplier of resources to Western countries. All of these areas are critical to Russia’s security, so given Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the question is for how long, and to what extent, Russia can ignore them.
In general, the U.S. has had no direct interest in either Central Asia or the South Caucasus. That’s beginning to change somewhat as Europe looks for alternative routes for energy deliveries, but in reality the West cares about these regions mostly because Russia cares so much about them; they insulate Russia from outsiders and depend on Russia economically. This gives Moscow a ton of influence there, but the flip side is that countries like the U.S. can use Russia’s strategic needs against it. This is precisely why Washington is maintaining its positions in Georgia, looking for new opportunities to pry Armenia away from Russia’s sphere of influence, strengthening cooperation with Azerbaijan, and providing financing in Central Asia that Russia cannot.
Diplomatic activity over the past month attests to Washington’s opportunism. The senior adviser of the U.S. State Department for negotiations in the Caucasus was in Baku from April 24 to April 29 to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, while the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs met with Azerbaijani authorities on April 27-28.
On May 2, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to launch a strategic dialogue. During the talks, Armenia and the United States?reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations in all areas. This is notable, in that Washington heretofore has seen Armenia as too close to Russia to be pried away. It’s possible we are seeing the beginning of a shift in bilateral relations.
Just last week, the U.S. announced that it had completed the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle training course for Kazakh border guards. New UAV operators will use U.S.-provided Raven drones to assist in monitoring Kazakhstan’s borders. Considering Kazakhstan has a long border with Russia and that Russia has been a strong security partner of Kazakhstan before, Russia is wary of this program, to say the least.
The U.S. undersecretary of state for civil security, democracy, and human rights visited Kyrgyzstan on April 14 after spending time in Kazakhstan, where she discussed strategic engagement. Elsewhere, the United States announced it will allocate more than $60 million in security assistance to Tajikistan and transferred $2.3 million worth of trucks to the country. This is a low-risk, high-reward play for Washington, especially if it can persuade some Central Asian officials that they have other choices than partnering with Russia.
Notably, the U.S. isn’t acting alone, using key NATO allies that have a direct interest in Central Asia. One such ally is Turkey, which wants the region’s resources so that it can become a transit hub for Europe, sees it as an untapped market brimming with economic potential, and aims to regain influence with Turkic peoples outside its own borders. (To that end, it has developed extremely close relations with Azerbaijan that were further strengthened when Ankara sided with Baku in the most recent Nagorno-Karabakh war.) To secure Turkey’s help, Washington has indicated that it may approve an arms deal that includes F-16 fighter jets, having previously denied Ankara certain aircraft for buying Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems.
Turkey has also been using the Ukraine conflict to build its influence in Russia’s periphery. Ankara started the process of normalizing relations with Armenia and strengthening cooperation with Central Asia, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussing with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev the?prospects for developing Kazakh-Turkish strategic partnerships. Erdogan also discussed the expansion of Tajik-Turkish cooperation during?a call with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon?and earlier signed an agreement on military cooperation, and?spoke with Kyrgyzstan’s president to hash out bilateral relations.
Cause for Concern
It’s possible that none of this will shake Russia. Moscow is already deeply integrated into the Central Asian and Caucasian economies and security systems. It remains a key economic partner for these countries, directs investments and provides military assistance when needed. It has firmly entrenched itself in the buffer zones by deploying peacekeepers into Nagorno-Karabakh and by demonstrating the effectiveness of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Central Asia. More, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are included in the Eurasian Economic Union customs union and have their own advantages from membership – preferential energy resources, easier access to the Russian market, and so on. Central Asia and the Caucasus are clearly in need of huge and constant flows of investment and an effective mechanism for suppressing unrest and regional conflicts. The United States is unlikely to spend the resources needed to provide everything this region requires.?
Still, Washington’s renewed activity is an unwelcome development for Russia. Some Central Asian and Caucasian countries, being transit, financial or technological hubs, are concerned that they will be adversely affected by the raft of Russian sanctions. Because their fragile economies couldn’t withstand another shock, they’re trying to keep the door open with the West just in case.
It’s simply getting harder for Moscow to balance all the interests at its border, and the U.S. is acting accordingly. Though Russia understands there’s only so much Washington is willing and able to do to help the countries in its buffer region, it can’t afford to ignore it. With much of its forces diverted, the rest may not be enough for everyone all the time.
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Nachbarl?nder der EU nicht entmutigen – Scholz offen für Macrons Ideen zur Zukunft Europas
Paris?Bundeskanzler?Olaf Scholz?(SPD) und der franz?sische Pr?sident?Emmanuel Macron?haben?Russlands Staatschef?Wladimir Putin?zu einem?sofortigen Waffenstillstand und Friedensgespr?chen in der?Ukraine?aufgefordert. Bei Macrons Antrittsbesuch nach seiner Wiederwahl in Berlin nahmen beide Politiker am Montagabend zur Kenntnis,?dass Putin in seiner Rede zum Weltkriegsgedenken auf eine weitere Eskalation verzichtet hatte.
?Es gab keine weitere Eskalation heute“, sagte Macron. Das sei aber nicht ausreichend.?N?tig sei eine Waffenruhe ?so schnell wie m?glich“, um Frieden und einen ?nachhaltigen Abzug der russischen Truppen“?aus der Ukraine zu erreichen.
Scholz forderte, dass die Verhandlungen für ein Ende des Krieges wieder aufgenommen und ?konkreter“ würden. ?Insofern ist es wichtig, dass die Eskalation nicht weiter vorangetrieben wird, zumindest, was die Rhetorik betrifft.“
Entscheidend sei aber, wie sich?Russland?in den kommenden Wochen in der Ukraine verhalte. Putin müsse die Truppen zurückziehen. Zudem sei ?nicht vorstellbar, dass die Ukraine einen Diktatfrieden akzeptiert“.
Bei einer gro?en Milit?rparade in Moskau zum 77. Jahrestag des Sieges der Sowjetunion über Nazideutschland im Zweiten Weltkrieg?hatte Putin nicht wie befürchtet eine Generalmobilmachung angeordnet. Allerdings begründete er seinen Angriffskrieg erneut mit der Behauptung, eine angebliche Aggression des Westens abzuwehren und gegen in Kiew regierende ?Neonazis“ vorzugehen.
Scholz offen für Macrons Ideen zur Zukunft der EU
Gespr?chsthema der beiden war auch die Zukunft Europas. Scholz zeigte sich offen für Macrons Idee einer europ?ischen politischen Gemeinschaft, mit der die Ukraine und andere Staaten in der Nachbarschaft der EU eine europ?ische Perspektive erhalten sollen.
Der franz?sische Pr?sident hatte den Vorschlag am Montag in einer Rede vor dem EU-Parlament in Stra?burg gemacht, auch weil unter den geltenden Beitrittsanforderungen eine ukrainische EU-Mitgliedschaft noch Jahre oder gar Jahrzehnte entfernt sei.
?Das Risiko ist, dass wir unsere Nachbarl?nder, die auf dem gleichen Wertefundament stehen, entmutigen“, sagte Macron bei seinem Treffen mit Scholz über den langwierigen Beitrittsprozess zur Europ?ischen Union. ?Wir müssen also eine neue politische Form finden.“ Die Kooperation in der erweiterten Staatenrunde k?nne neben Sicherheitsfragen auch eine Zusammenarbeit in der Energiepolitik oder bei Einreiseregeln umfassen.
Scholz sprach von einem ?sehr interessanten Vorschlag“. Dieser Weg dürfe allerdings nicht die EU-Beitrittsperspektive der L?nder des westlichen Balkans einschr?nken.
Macron wies darauf hin, dass im Juni ein Gipfel der EU mit Albanien, Bosnien und Herzegowina, Kosovo, Nordmazedonien, Montenegro und Serbien stattfinde, die sich jeweils in unterschiedlichen Stadien des Beitrittsprozesses befinden.
Der franz?sische Pr?sident erneuerte seine zuvor im Europaparlament vorgetragene Forderung nach einer grundlegenden Reform der EU-Institutionen, zu der auch Vertrags?nderungen n?tig seien. Angesichts der Skepsis in einer Reihe von Mitgliedstaaten sagte er, dass in Europa zu Beginn eines Prozesses selten Einigkeit bestehe. Es gehe nun darum, einen Kompromiss zu finden.
Scholz ?u?erte sich am Montagabend zurückhaltend: ?Da, wo ein Konsens erzielt werden kann, sind wir gern dabei.“ Effizientere Entscheidungsmechanismen k?nne man in Europa aber auch ohne Vertrags?nderungen erreichen. So k?nnte man schon heute das Prinzip der Mehrheitsentscheidung auf mehr Politikfeldern als bisher einsetzen, damit einzelne Staaten nicht mehr mit ihrem Veto blockieren k?nnen.
Deutsch-franz?sischer Ministerrat geplant
Der Kanzler gratulierte Macron ?von ganzem Herzen“ zur Wiederwahl im vergangenen Monat. Es sei ein ?gutes Zeichen“, dass sich die Franzosen weiter für einen proeurop?ischen Kurs ausgesprochen h?tten. Die deutsch-franz?sische Partnerschaft sei ?wichtiger denn je als Motor für das europ?ische Projekt“. Nach der franz?sischen Parlamentswahl im Juni sei auch ein deutsch-franz?sischer Ministerrat geplant. ?Unser Ziel: neuer Schwung für Europa“, so Scholz.
Allerdings ist offen, ob Macron mit seinem Mitte-Bündnis erneut eine Mehrheit in der Nationalversammlung holt.?In der vergangenen Woche hatte der linkspopulistische EU-Kritiker Jean-Luc Mélenchon das zersplitterte linke Lager geeint und verfolgt das Ziel, als Premierminister zum Gegengewicht Macrons zu werden.
Ein Sieg der Allianz gilt als m?glich. Sollte Macron mit verbündeten Parteien der rechten und linken Mitte keine Mehrheit im Parlament erringen, w?re er faktisch gezwungen, die politischen Gegner bei der Regierungsbildung und der Gesetzgebung zu berücksichtigen.
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