Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi predicted on Saturday that European countries will eventually resume higher imports of Russian gas, warning that market volatility could last for years.

Russian gas exports to Europe plunged after Moscow’s operation of Ukraine, but Al-Kaabi, who is also the head of QatarEnergy gas company, said the situation could change in the future.

“The Europeans today are saying there’s no way we’re going back” to Russian gas, he told the Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.

“The community that was driving the green was living in a dream that they realized they can’t achieve,” says 🇶🇦’s Minister of Energy Security, H.E. Eng. Saad Al-Kaabi, and President and CEO of @qatarenergy. #ACEnergyForum: ➡️ https://t.co/Qi3H7uiBVupic.twitter.com/bOBbF9kfOw

— Global Energy Center (@ACGlobalEnergy) January 14, 2023

“We’re all blessed to have to be able to forget and to forgive. And I think things get mended with time… they learn from that situation and probably have a much bigger diversity.”

“But Russian gas is going back, in my view, to Europe.”

Gas exports by Russian energy giant Gazprom to the European Union and Switzerland fell by 55 percent last year, the company said this month.

The European market was Gazprom’s biggest buyer until sanctions were imposed following Russia’s military operation in neighboring Ukraine.

Since then, the supplies were drastically reduced. Global oil and gas news source Upstream last Monday reported that Gazprom has reduced exports to Europe since the beginning of the year via two pipelines across Ukraine and Turkey, citing data from transmission operators.

Source: Agencies