Qatar said the European Union’s (EU) push to ease some regulatory burdens is opening the door to further gas deals with companies in the region.

Qatar has been critical of some EU ESG rules, particularly those requiring companies to conduct due diligence in their supply chains on issues such as human rights abuses and environmental damage, Bloomberg Television reported.

Qatar plans to expand export capacity to 142 million tonnes per year by 2030 and has signed deals with Germany and France as Europeans seek to diversify their LNG sources.

Those laws have been a key part of the EU’s push to cut red tape, with 80 per cent of companies now exempted.

“We see more potential with the Europeans, although we have some issues with the regulation,” Finance Minister Ali Al-Kuwari said to Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, singling out the due diligence rules known as CSDDD. “We understand that Europe now is really taking an easy stand on that one, and that should resume our talks.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago, the EU has been working to diversify its energy supplies, with LNG from Qatar seen as a crucial substitute.

Amid worsening trade tensions with the US—Europe’s largest LNG supplier—Qatar’s role may grow in importance.

Qatar is one of the world’s largest LNG exporters and plans to expand export capacity from the current 77 million tonnes to 142 million tonnes per year by 2030. Output from the first phase of the expansion is scheduled to start later this year.

“We have signed deals” with Germany and France, Al-Kuwari said. “Europeans have been talking to us, because they want to diversify their source of LNG.”