The world will need natural gas for a long time to come and more investment is needed to ensure reliable supplies and affordable prices during the global energy transition, energy ministers from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Saad al-Qaabi told the Global Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi that gas is not a transition fuel but a destination fuel.

"The issue is what's going to happen when they (Europe) want to replenish their storages this coming year and the next year," he said, adding that energy producers were concerned about demand destruction.

At the same time, he stressed that some in the West unfairly claim that African countries should not drill for oil and gas.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei, speaking at the same meeting, agreed that there will be a need for gas for a long time to come, and that while more renewables will be introduced, more investment in gas as a baseload is needed.