Qatar

28 Feb 2022; MEMO: Airbus AIR.PA hit back in an escalating dispute with Qatar Airways over A350 jets on Monday, asking a British judge to award $220 million in damages over two undelivered airliners, Reuters reports.

The plane maker's claim for two A350s that Qatar's national carrier has rejected comes after the airline sued Airbus for $600 million over degradation on more than 20 jets recently grounded by Qatar.

23 Feb 2022; MEMO: 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 yesterday, Reuters reports.

DOHA/LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - 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 added.

22 Feb 2022; MEMO: Iran and Qatar are to sign four major agreements, including plans for an underwater tunnel connecting the two countries amid talks aimed at enhancing bilateral ties.

18 Feb 2022; MEMO: Airbus hopes to reach an amicable solution in a row with Qatar Airways over damage to the surface of A350 passenger jets, Chief Executive, Guillaume Faury, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

The companies have been locked in a months-long dispute over paint erosion and deterioration to anti-lightning protection on the long-haul jets, which Airbus has acknowledged need attention while insisting the problems do not put safety at risk.

04 Feb 2022; MEMO: The international football association FIFA is pressuring Qatar to allow alcohol sales in stadiums during the 2022 World Cup.

Bloomberg quoted informed sources as saying that Qatari officials were "weighing whether to relax the country's ban on alcohol at sporting events," noting that the deliberations were centered on whether to allow lower-alcohol products inside the venues.

03 Feb 2022; MEMO: Qatari Foreign Minister, Muhammad Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has ruled out the prospect of his country normalising relations with Israel or Syria.

In an interview with Axios news site, the top Qatari official explained that his country had previously maintained relations with Israel "when there were prospects for peace" with the Palestinians, but Doha had "lost hope" after the 2008-2009 war on Gaza.

01 Feb 2022; MEMO: Qatar has told the European Union the bloc would need to restrict the resale of gas outside the EU so major suppliers can provide gas in case of a Russia-Ukraine conflict and prevent a short-term crisis, Reuters reported a person briefed on the talks saying.

The Gulf Arab state says it is also necessary to resolve a long-running EU probe into Qatar's long-term gas contracts, for the EU to be less dependent on spot sales and more on long-term contracts to boost its energy security, the person added.

22 Jan 2022; MEMO: Qatari Ambassador Mohammed Al-Emadi has signed a deal with the Gaza Power Generation Company and the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, Akka news website reported on Friday.

According to Akka, Israel Hayom, an Israeli Hebrew daily, reported that the deal stipulates opening an escrow account to cover the cost of gas supplies to the power plant and power generation.

11 Jan 2022; MEMO: Qatar and Saudi Arabia have halted a legal dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over a case of content piracy, in the latest step to reinforce their reconciliation.

The dispute was over the alleged piracy of content produced by the Qatari-owned broadcaster, beIN – the sports and entertainment channel which owns broadcasting rights for popular world sporting events such as the Premier League and FIFA – that was committed by beoutQ, the commercial-scale channel that carried the pirated broadcasts.