Qatar, UAE energy ministers say gas will be needed for long time

The world will need natural gas for a long time and more investment is required to ensure supply security and affordable prices during the global energy transition, energy ministers of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates said on Saturday.

Saad al-Kaabi, Qatari state minister for energy, told the Global Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi that gas "is not a transition fuel" but a destination fuel, adding it was unfair for some in the West to say African countries should not be drilling for oil and gas.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei, speaking on the same panel, agreed that "for a very long time, gas will be there" and that while more renewable energy would be installed, more investment was needed in gas as a base load.