Qatari Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi sent a letter to the Belgian government in May, Reuters reported, warning may stop exporting liquefied natural gas to the European Union in response to the European corporate sustainability due diligence directive, which entered into force on July 25. The CSDDD requires large companies to remedy environmental harm and human rights concerns (such as forced labor) in their supply chains or incur fines. The rules apply to both EU and non-EU companies with a yearly turnover greater than €450 million. Notably, the rules will be implemented gradually through 2029 based on company size.
Qatari outrage over the directive reflects the country’s reliance on fossil fuel exports and widely reported exploitation of foreign workers. In the above-mentioned letter to Belgium’s government, Al-Kaabi, who is also President and CEO and Deputy Chairman of state-owned QatarEnergy, wrote that if “further changes are not made to CSDDD, the State of Qatar and QatarEnergy will have no choice but to seriously consider alternative markets outside of the EU for our LNG and other products.” His letter questioned the European directive’s climate goals, affirming that Doha has no plans to achieve net zero emissions anytime soon.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Qatar is one of the world’s top LNG exporters, exported about 9.3 billion cubic feet per day of LNG through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024. With new LNG pipelines opening up in Syria, plus increasingly warm relations between Qatar and Pakistan, Qatar has other options for LNG export flows. Europeans have few equally affordable options. To meet European needs for gas without having to rely on Russia or Qatar, EU countries may look to buying more LNG from the U.S. or revisit local nuclear energy policies.LNG And The Future Of European Energy
This is not the first time Qatar has threatened to cut off LNG exports to Europe over the CSDDD. “If the case is that I lose 5% of my generated revenue by going to Europe, I will not go to Europe,” Al-Kaabi reportedly said in reference to the associated penalties back in December 2024. “I’m not bluffing.”If Doha follows through on its threats, the consequences will have ripple effects for European energy security, although EU members may be able to replace the Qatari supply with imports from the U.S., Nigeria, Algeria, and Mozambique. While Qataris could likely find alternate buyers, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, their insistence on long-term contracts with restrictive resale provisions may push Asian buyers, especially the Japanese and South Koreans, to avoid Qatari LNG.
The share of Qatari LNG imports in the EU’s total gas portfolio has increased as Europe continues to seek alternatives to Russian LNG, spurred by Putin’s second invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In the first quarter of 2024, Qatari LNG accounted for 9.1% of the EU’s total imports, and in the first quarter of 2025, this number increased to 10.8%. In 2023, QatarEnergy entered into large LNG contracts with three major companies to supply gas to Europe. It agreed to supply Shell, Eni, and TotalEnergies with several million tons of LNG per year for the next 27 years, providing energy to the Netherlands, Italy, and France, respectively.
Europe’s reliance on foreign LNG stems from policies across several of its states prioritizing renewables to the exclusion of more reliable forms of baseload energy, like nuclear, which makes foreign sources of LNG a key component of the continent’s energy mix. This, in turn, has rendered the EU increasingly vulnerable to shocks caused by international politics.Click here to read more
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