DOHA, Qatar

Evaluating the recent developments in the energy market during the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, the Qatari energy minister said: "The only thing that will save humanity and Europe this year is a warm winter."

“If the economy starts churning back up in 2024, and you have just a regular winter, I think the worst is yet to come,” Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said during the forum in the capital Doha.

He stressed that renewable energy sources are only for generating electricity and that it is not solving problems, and that countries need a proper mixture of energy products.

Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war last year in February, energy prices, especially natural gas, have increased significantly.