QatarEnergy expects global LNG demand to rise faster and last longer than previously anticipated, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), data centres and Europe's structural pivot away from Russian supply, Qatar's energy minister and QatarEnergy's chief executive, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, said.
Speaking at the LNG2026 conference in Doha, Al-Kaabi said QatarEnergy has expanded aggressively in LNG on the conviction that gas demand will not only endure but accelerate, with expectations revised higher in recent years as power demand from AI and digital infrastructure emerges. This follows other LNG sellers pivoting their growth market focus over the past year away from southeast Asian demand and coal to gas switching and towards power-demand driven by AI.
"The expectation of demand going forward has increased," al-Kaabi said. "Not only because of economic growth, but now with AI and data centre requirements, which are sustained, baseload power requirements. That has stepped up the need for gas much more than we thought in the past."
QatarEnergy is positioning itself to meet that demand through scale, shipping flexibility and trading optionality, as Europe cements its role as a long-term LNG market following the loss of Russian pipeline gas.
QatarEnergy is expanding its LNG capacity from 77mn t/yr to 126mn t/yr by 2027 and is developing a global LNG portfolio that includes about 18mn t/yr at the US' Golden Pass LNG export terminal.
QatarEnergy also expects to operate a fleet of about 200 LNG vessels by 2035, allowing it to redirect cargoes across regions and arbitrage between markets, al-Kaabi said. "That gives us flexibility, durability and longevity of supply for our customers around the world," he added.
Europe as a target market
Europe's emergence as a structural LNG buyer is reshaping long-term market balances, with QatarEnergy increasingly targeting the region alongside Asian demand growth.
EU ministers on 26 January formally adopted a regulation to phase out imports of Russian pipeline gas and LNG.
Al-Kaabi said QatarEnergy always expected a period of market looseness in the second half of the 2020s, but warned that rising power demand could tighten balances sooner than many forecasts suggest.
"We always thought there would be some oversupply between 2025 and 2030, and a shortage beyond that," he said. "But with what we are seeing in Europe, AI, data centres and demand in Asia, that oversupply could turn into a shortage by 2030."
He also pointed to China and India as core demand anchors, with India looking to raise the gas share of its energy mix from about 6–7pc towards 15pc, alongside rising demand across southeast Asia and Japan, where data centres are becoming a major driver of baseload power needs.
Energy mix
Al-Kaabi also pushed back against earlier calls to phase out hydrocarbons, saying recent years have exposed a gap between policy rhetoric and physical energy realities.
"A few years ago, some organisations were talking about a ‘cancel culture' for oil and saying demand would disappear by 2030," he said. "Those voices have disappeared. You need oil, you need gas and you need electricity for a very long time."
Al-Kaabi added that even they, in Qatar, are looking for additional oil locally or through exploration licences abroad. "Oil is going to be needed for a very, very long time," he said.
Al-Kaabi said that electrification alone cannot meet global energy needs, noting that petrochemicals, transport fuels and aviation will continue to rely on liquids for decades. "Gasoline, coal and jet fuel will not disappear any time soon," he said.
On climate policy, al-Kaabi said engagement with European regulators has become more pragmatic, particularly around corporate sustainability and due-diligence rules, but warned against policies detached from commercial and technical realities.
"If you put in place legislation that is theoretical and not workable, it damages the final consumer," he said. "If you penalise us, it passes through to the European customer."
QatarEnergy remains committed to lowering emissions through carbon capture, efficiency gains and technology, he said, but argued that energy security, affordability and decarbonisation must advance together.
QatarEnergy is expanding its carbon capture and sequestration capacity, targeting CO2 capture of 9mn t/yr by 2030 and 11mn–13mn t/yr by 2035, as part of efforts to lower the emissions intensity of its LNG supply.
But Al-Kaabi warned that large-scale deployment of low-carbon fuels and carbon abatement technologies remains constrained by high costs.
"Blue and green products need a premium, and today nobody is willing to pay for it," he said. "We need energy addition, not slogans."
