Saad Al Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister and head of QatarEnergy, stated at an Atlantic Council conference in Abu Dhabi on Saturday that global natural gas markets will experience instability for the next several years due to a shortage of supply and increasing demand.

According to Al Kaabi, despite the current drop in European gas prices, largely due to mild weather, the region is likely to struggle to refill gas stockpiles for next winter given the lack of supplies from Russia, Al Kaabi said.

“It’s going to be a volatile situation for some time to come. We’re bringing a lot of gas to the market, but it’s not enough… Luckily [the EU] hasn’t had a very high demand for gas due to the warmer weather. The issue is what’s going to happen when they want to replenish their storages this coming year,” the minister stated, adding that he does not expect any additional gas volumes to enter the market until at least 2027.