HE the Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi, also the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, reaffirmed the need for a collaborative approach for the transition to cleaner energy, starting with consumers, guided by governments, and supported by producers.
Al-Kaabi’s remarks came during the opening session of the 10th LNG Producer-Consumer Conference, which was hosted and held virtually from Japan.
In his keynote speech, the minister highlighted the key role end-consumers must play in the energy transition to achieve the global CO2 emissions reduction goals.
Al-Kaabi noted, “We need to recognise that a successful energy transition cannot be driven by producers alone. It is a shared responsibility that requires the active collaboration of energy producers, legislators and governments, and end-consumers.”
Expressing optimism about the role of LNG in the energy transition due to its many advantages including its unique ability to complement renewables, the minister said, “I believe that the best for the LNG industry is yet to come, and that more consumers are realising the economic benefits and environmental qualities of LNG, and are adopting it as a key, cleaner, economical and reliable component in their energy mix.”
Al-Kaabi concluded his remarks by thanking Japan for hosting this important dialogue between LNG producers and consumers, and stressing that “if we want to achieve our environmental objectives as well as maintain our economic growth with the use of cleaner and more reliable base-load source of energy, natural gas is and will continue to be the partner of choice for renewables in the transition journey and beyond.”
The LNG Producer-Consumer Conference is a global annual dialogue, launched in 2012, and organised by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre.
It provides ministers, heads of international organisations, corporate executives, and other stakeholders with a venue to share the latest trends in the global LNG market and discussing opportunities and challenges with a view to its development.