Biden talks to Qatar about supplying gas to Europe

Biden administration officials are talking to Qatar about supplying Europe with liquefied natural gas if a Russian invasion of Ukraine leads to shortages, according to people familiar with the matter.

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to ask the Persian Gulf nation's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to visit the White House, possibly as soon as later this month, two people said on Friday. The White House official said Friday night that the meeting between Biden and the emir has been in the works for some time.

Some European nations have expressed fears that punishing Russia with harsh sanctions over the Ukraine crisis could cause damage to their economies and cause Russian President Vladimir Putin to cut off or scale back gas supplies in the middle of the winter.

Europe receives more than 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and about a third of Russian gas flowing to Europe passes through Ukraine.

Qatar is one of the world s biggest producers of LNG, with about three-quarters of the fuel sold to energy-poor Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. Qatar provides about 5% of Europe's natural gas.

In Europe, switching to LNG is critical for countries such as Lithuania and Poland that are looking to escape the pipeline politics involved in buying gas from Russia.

The U.S. officials want to help ease Europeans concerns about how they ll heat their homes this winter, according to people familiar with the private discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. has stepped up pressure on the Europeans to agree on a package of sanctions, showing signs of frustration at the pace of negotiations with and within the European Union despite weeks of talks.

Putin is demanding concessions and security guarantees from NATO, which the military alliance says it can't provide, despite the fact that he plans to invade.

Europe's natural gas stocks are low as the continent struggles with a crunch. Moscow's increased leverage over its neighbors became apparent last winter, an unusually cold and long one, that depleted Europe's inventories of gas just as its economies were emerging from the pandemic-induced recession. Russian state-controlled Gazprom PJSC began capping flows to the continent over the summer, causing shortages.

The White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said the administration is working with partners to increase fuel supplies to Europe.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Deese said Thursday that the focus is on how to make sure European countries have enough access to natural gas to get through the winter months, but also to alleviate pressures in the spring. It means working with our allies and partners, particularly gas producing countries, to understand what additional capacity exists and how we can expand that capacity into the region. Deese said on Thursday that the U.S. doesn't have much to send.

With regard to natural gas, our export capacity is close to maximum export capacity, he said. What we can do is to work with allies and try to find and arrange ways to move more product in other ways. Biden has hosted several leaders from the Middle East, including Iraq Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.