Gas..

Neither Qatar nor any other single country has the capacity to replace Russian gas supplies to Europe with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the event of disruption due to a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Qatar's energy minister said on Tuesday.

With most of Qatari volumes are locked into long-term contracts mostly to Asian buyers, the amount of divertable volumes that can be shipped to Europe is only 10-15%, Saad al-Kaabi Minister of Energy of Qatar added.

Kaabi's comments renewed concerns over Europe's security of gas supplies as tensions escalated between Russia and Ukraine.

"Russia provides 30-40% of the supply to Europe. There is no single country that can replace that kind of volume.

The United States and its European allies are set to announce fresh sanctions against Russia after President Vladimir Putin formally recognized the independence of the two regions in eastern Ukraine. The sanctions could affect the Russian flow of gas into Europe so it is punishment for the Uropeans and the Americans with double the prices that was just doubled last year. Good going.