China-Russia gas deal likely to challenge Middle East’s grip over Beijing | The National

China-Russia gas deal likely to challenge Middle East’s grip over Beijing | The National:



"China’s recent deal to secure gas from Russia is the latest step in its effort to diversify its energy sources, a trend likely to challenge the Middle East’s dominance of the Chinese energy supply chain.





Qatar may be the most immediate loser after the US$400 billion deal inked last month that involves Russia’s energy giant Gazprom supplying China National Petroleum with 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas over 30 years. Qatar has been increasingly redirecting LNG exports from Europe to Asia, partly to achieve a better price for its deliveries. An estimated 16.4 per cent of China’s gas came from Qatar in 2012, according to BP, the energy company. Barclays estimates about 10 per cent of Qatar’s gas is delivered to the world’s second biggest economy.



“With Russia’s aggressive stance to diversify markets, and Australian supply coming online, the question is whether Qatar will remain immune to the competition,” said Alia Moubayed, the director and head of research for Mena at Barclays. “We do not see any immediate risk as a large part of Qatar’s contracts are long term and oil-linked. But in the medium-term the changes in the global LNG markets could become a major challenge to Qatar.”"



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