By Andreas Rinke
ABU DHABI, Sept 25 (Reuters) – German firm RWE has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to supply liquefied natural gas to Europe’s largest economy by the end of December, RWE announced on Sunday.
Although the amount to be delivered is relatively small, it is a politically important deal to bolster gas supplies outside Russia as Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz tries to build ties with the Gulf and find alternative energy sources.
The announcements came on the second day of a two-day trip by Scholz to the Gulf region.
“We have to make sure that the world’s LNG production advances to the point where we can meet the existing high demand without having to resort to the production capacity that exists in Russia,” Scholz told reporters before the deal was announced. .
The cargo to be delivered this year by ADNOC will be 137,000 cubic meters of LNG and will be the first to be supplied to the German gas market through the Brunsbรผttel floating LNG import terminal near Hamburg, RWE said.
ADNOC has also booked an unspecified number of LNG cargoes for Germany in 2023.
The two new floating LNG terminals planned in Germany will eventually be able to receive up to 12.5 billion cubic meters of LNG a year, which is equivalent to about 13% of the country’s gas consumption in 2021, according to data from the research company Enerdata.
“This marks an important milestone in building an LNG supply infrastructure in Germany and creating a more diversified gas supply,” RWE said in a statement.
German authorities hope that a series of agreements, such as the one reached with Abu Dhabi for LNG, will help reduce energy prices, which have soared.
As well as supplying RWE, ADNOC has also agreed to sell ammonia to German companies such as Steag and Aurubis. It will also supply 250,000 tons of diesel per month to the German company Hoyer.
Earlier on Sunday, the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, signed an agreement with Scholz that calls for accelerating energy security and industrial growth.
In addition, the Emirati renewable energy company Masdar will explore the development of offshore wind power off the German coast.
Scholz traveled to Qatar after his meetings in Abu Dhabi. On Saturday, he held talks in Jeddah with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Moataz Mohamed; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)
