Lower Suez Canal LNG tolls sought

Consultations between the Suez Canal Authority and Qatargas on Qatar's efforts to secure lower tolls on its LNG shipments to Europe, are still continuing.
Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al Attiyah was speaking following his return from Cairo, where he attended a meeting of OAPEC.
The minister expressed hope that the Suez Canal Authority and Qatargas would reach agreement on the issue. He stressed that Qatar wanted to encourage European companies to buy Qatari gas and use the Suez Canal more as a transit route.
A study prepared by Qatargas was now being negotiated with the Suez Canal Authority, he noted.
Turning to the two-day OAPEC meeting, he said it had approved an OAPEC General Secretariat budget for 1998 of $ 4.8 million.
Delegates had agreed to hold the seventh Arab Energy Conference in Cairo in the year 2002 and agreed to start preparations for the sixth Arab Energy Conference, to be convened in Damascus in May 1998.
Al Attiyah said the next meeting of the OAPEC Ministerial Council would be held in Libya on Dec. 12, 1998.