Qatar has not approached its Asian customers about redirecting gas to Europe, Saad al-Kaabi, QatarEnergy chief and minister of state for energy Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters, adding that if Russia does not supply gas to the region, one country cannot fill the gap.

The United States, the world's largest natural gas producer, has asked Qatar and other major energy producers to explore whether they can supply gas to Europe if Russian flows are interrupted due to tensions over Ukraine.

Earlier this week, a source said that Qatar would need US help to convince its buyers to divert gas to Europe, where about 30-40% of gas needs are met by Russia.

"No discussions have taken place...this has not happened," Kaabi told Reuters in Doha, when asked if Qatar had approached any of its Asian buyers. Qatar sells most of its LNG to Asia under long-term oil-indexed contracts.

Industry sources and analysts say that only 8-10% of Qatari LNG is available for redirection to Europe, and even that will take time, as delivery to Europe takes longer than to Asia.

On the prospect of sanctions that would take Russia out of the European gas market, Saad al-Kaabi reiterated that no country can fill this gap: "No one can supply Europe alone, not us alone ... you need many more suppliers to fill the gap."

Any disruption in Europe will exacerbate the already existing energy crisis caused by the global shortage of oil and gas.

Kaabi said global "energy poverty" was a real possibility should investments in hydrocarbons continue to lag.

"Globally, the industry is not investing enough in the oil and gas sector, and gas especially," Kaabi said, adding that he would not have predicted prices rising as high as they have.

"The energy situation will remain like this for a while unless the narrative changes to acknowledge that gas will be a necessary part of the energy transition," Kaabi said, adding: "Otherwise, the world won't have enough supply...there will be energy poverty for sure."