Qatar deal burst – Despite his kneeling, the sheikhs are now letting Habeck down in the gas crisis
Created: 08/11/2022 05:03
By: Catherine Brown
The much-announced gas from Qatar does not materialize - apparently none of the German energy companies have yet closed a deal with suppliers from the Gulf State.
Was Robert Habeck's trip in vain?
Munich – Some were shocked, others found it brave: When Economics Minister Robert Habeck 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 peculiarities," said the Green politician at the time.
The message was that he had no other choice.
And the trip seemed to have been worth it: Habeck announced that an energy partnership had been firmly agreed "it's great".
Even more: Qatar is even open to renewable energies and more climate protection in the long term.
Now, almost five months later, that deal seems long forgotten.
Despite kneeling in Qatar, liquid gas deal burst?
The news came by the way when Habeck faced an angry crowd of demonstrators in Bayreuth a week ago.
"The Qataris have decided not to make a good offer," the economy minister is
said to have said on his summer tour, according to the
picture .
"And the companies I was there with at the time were getting gas elsewhere at the moment." The much-heralded Qatar deal has therefore burst.
It is unclear how long Habeck has known this.
In March, Habeck bowed to Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sharida al-Kaabi.
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
EnBW, RWE, Vattenfall, E.On and Lex Uniper so far without a contract with Qatar
At the request of our editors, the Federal Ministry of Economics was unable to comment on or confirm Habeck's statement.
Just this much: The federal government itself does not conclude any contracts with supplier countries.
"The companies make the contracts, you would have to ask the companies whether contracts have been concluded here and what the conditions were and are," says a spokeswoman.
Research by
Focus online
revealed that none of the major German energy companies such as EnBW, RWE, Vattenfall, E.On and Lex Uniper have so far signed a contract with suppliers from Qatar.
The "energy partnership" that Habeck had concluded with Qatar was therefore more of a symbolic nature: neither delivery dates nor specific gas quantities were specified.
In contrast, Italy just recently struck a multi-billion dollar deal with Qatar.
A month ago, the state-owned energy supplier Eni announced a contract with QatarEnergy for a large liquid gas project.
The two countries want to cooperate with each other for 27 years.
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According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the federal government is in exchange with several countries that could temporarily supply gas or hydrogen.
"This includes Qatar, but also numerous other countries such as Norway, Canada and the USA," it says.
The filling level of the German natural gas storage facilities is currently slightly more than 70 percent.
A new regulation stipulates that German storage facilities must be at least 75 percent full by September 1st.
On October 1st it should be 85 percent and on November 1st 95 percent.
Blackout from heaters
According to the
picture
, the government fears a heating failure in millions of households in winter if gas becomes scarce.
This emerged from an unofficial switching conference between Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) and the state chancellery of the federal states.
The concern is that the pressure in gas networks will drop as soon as there is a shortage of gas.
As a result, heaters could go out - and citizens would have to call craftsmen for help 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 says to our newspaper.
They would be the first to be supplied with gas in an emergency.
Andreae sees a greater danger in the fact that too many people are now buying a fan heater out of fear.
"Due to their very high power requirements, such devices not only lead to high costs, but can also overload the power grids," she says.
No member of the government is currently as popular as Robert Habeck.
It has nothing to do with his technical decisions.
But with how he conveys them.
