ABU DHABI
\nThe United Arab Emirates agreed on Sunday to supply natural gas and diesel to Germany as part of an \u201cenergy security\u201d deal to replace Russian supplies.
\nEmirati industry minister Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called it a \u201clandmark new agreement\u201d that \u201creinforces the rapidly growing energy partnership between the UAE and Germany\u201d, at a signing attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the UAE\u2019s state news agency WAM reported.
\nScholz signed the deal while on a Gulf tour that took him to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar hunting for new energy sources.
\nHe met with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who said on Twitter they had discussed \u201ccooperation in areas including energy security, emissions reduction and climate action\u201d.
\nThe German leader said he \u201cwelcomed\u201d the \u201cenergy security\u201d agreement, WAM said.
\nUAE state oil company ADNOC completed its first direct diesel delivery to Germany this month, and will \u201csupply up to 250,000 tons of diesel per month in 2023\u201d, it reported.
\nThe first delivery of 137,000 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas will be made in December at Germany\u2019s new floating LNG import terminal at Brunsbuettel, near Hamburg, the RWE energy firm said in a statement.
\nADNOC will make more LNG deliveries to Germany in 2023, WAM said.
\nScholz\u2019s two-day Gulf tour aimed to seal new energy deals to replace Russian supplies and mitigate the energy crisis resulting from Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.
\nOn Saturday, he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.
\nOn 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.
\nNo 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.
\nScholz said Qatar\u2019s controversial rights record was improving but did not commit to attending the World Cup in the Gulf state that starts in November.
\nEnergy transition
\nScholz\u2019s stop in the UAE included a tour of an environmental project at a mangrove park with Emirati climate change minister Mariam Almheiri.
\nAlmheiri said discussions would cover \u201cclimate action and economic growth\u201d as well as energy supplies.
\n\u201cThe UAE believes all three pillars must go hand in hand. We cannot look at one or two of these pillars separately,\u201d she said.
\nThe UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been critics of what they call unrealistic energy transition models they say have contributed to shortages that have hit Europe in the past two years.
\nScholz told reporters in Abu Dhabi that his country had \u201cmade progress on a whole series of projects here in terms of the production and purchase of diesel and gas\u201d, while adding it was determined to avoid energy dependence on Russia.
\n\u201cThe fact that we are dependent on one supplier and also dependent on its decisions will certainly not happen to us again,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWith the investments that we are now making in Germany, and that will become reality bit by bit next year, we will indeed have an infrastructure for gas imports for Germany, such that we are no longer directly dependent on the specific supplier at the other end of the pipeline, as we are with a pipeline connection.\u201d
\nScholz ended the tour in Qatar one day after France\u2019s TotalEnergies signed a new $1.5 billion deal to help expand Doha\u2019s natural gas production. The German chancellor said such projects were \u201cimportant\u201d.
\n\u201cWe have to ensure that the production of liquefied gas in the world is advanced to such an extent that the high demand that exists can be met \u2014 without having to fall back on the production capacities in Russia that have been used so far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABU DHABI The United Arab Emirates agreed on Sunday to supply natural gas and diesel to Germany as part of an \u201cenergy security\u201d deal to replace Russian supplies. Emirati industry minister Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called it a \u201clandmark new agreement\u201d that \u201creinforces the rapidly growing energy partnership between the UAE and Germany\u201d, at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-285926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n