ABU DHABI—The United Arab Emirates agreed Sunday to supply natural gas and diesel to Germany as part of an “energy security” deal to replace Russian supplies.
Emirati industry minister Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called it a “landmark new agreement” that “reinforces the rapidly growing energy partnership between the UAE and Germany,” at a signing attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the UAE’s state news agency WAM reported.
Scholz signed the deal while on a Gulf tour that took him to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar hunting for new energy sources.
He met with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who said on Twitter they had discussed “cooperation in areas including energy security, emissions reduction and climate action.”
The German leader said he “welcomed” the “energy security” agreement, WAM said.
UAE state oil company ADNOC completed its first direct diesel delivery to Germany this month, and will “supply up to 250,000 tons of diesel per month in 2023,” it reported.
The first delivery of 137,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas will be made in December at Germany’s new floating LNG import terminal at Brunsbuettel, near Hamburg, the RWE energy firm said in a statement.
ADNOC will make more LNG deliveries to Germany in 2023, WAM said.
Scholz’s two-day Gulf tour aimed to seal new energy deals to replace Russian supplies and mitigate the energy crisis resulting from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday, he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.
On Sunday afternoon, following his trip to the UAE, he held talks in Doha with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on energy and investment, according to an official statement.
No deals were announced in Qatar however. The two countries are locked in tough talks on the length of contracts for LNG supplies, according to German media, and Scholz said he wanted to see progress.
Scholz said Qatar’s controversial rights record was improving but did not commit to attending the World Cup in the Gulf state that starts in November.
Scholz’s stop in the UAE included a tour of an environmental project at a mangrove park with Emirati climate change minister Mariam Almheiri.
Almheiri said discussions would cover “climate action and economic growth” as well as energy supplies.
“The UAE believes all three pillars must go hand in hand. We cannot look at one or two of these pillars separately,” she said.