UAE President and German Chancellor witness signing of Energy Security and Industry Accelerator Agreement (ESIA)

UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, and German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have witnessed the signing of a new Energy Security and Industry Accelerator (ESIA) Agreement that will accelerate projects of joint interest between the UAE and Germany in energy security, decarbonization and climate action. The agreement was signed by Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE Climate Special Envoy, and Managing Director and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and Dr. Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Under ESIA, both countries anticipate to explore further opportunities to accelerate growth and collaboration across the hydrogen value chain. Masdar, the UAE’s renewable energy company, will be actively exploring opportunities in the offshore wind markets in the North Sea and Baltic Sea in Germany that could generate up to 10GW of renewable energy production capacity by 2030 subject to the necessary German policy and regulatory requirements being met between the two nations.

As part of the agreement, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has entered into an LNG supply agreement with RWE AG (RWE), with ADNOC providing an LNG cargo for delivery in late 2022, to be used in the commissioning of Germany’s floating LNG import terminal at Brunsbüttel. In addition, ADNOC has reserved a number of further LNG cargos exclusively for German customers in 2023.

ADNOC has also entered into a number of agreements with German customers, including Steag GmbH (Steag) and Aurubis AG (Aurubis) for demonstration cargos of low-carbon ammonia, a carrier fuel for hydrogen that can play a critical role in decarbonizing hard-to-abate industry sectors. The first of these cargoes arrived in Hamburg earlier this month. It was also announced that ADNOC had completed the UAE’s first direct diesel delivery to Germany in September 2022, and has agreed the terms with Wilhelm Hoyer GmbH & Co. KG (Hoyer) to supply up to 250,000 tons of diesel per month in 2023.

Olaf Scholz said: "I welcome the signing of the joint declaration of intent on the "Energy Security and Industry Accelerator - ESIA". Through ESIA, we enable the swift implementation of strategic lighthouse projects on the focus areas of renewable energies, hydrogen, LNG and climate action."

Robert Habeck, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said: "We highly welcome the acceleration of joint lighthouse projects in the field of climate action, decarbonisation and energy security. We look forward to closely collaborate on offshore wind, other renewables and hydrogen in the UAE and in Germany."

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said: "This landmark new agreement reinforces the rapidly growing energy partnership between the UAE and Germany. As we embrace the energy transition, ADNOC is fully committed to accelerate and invest in projects of energy security, decarbonization and climate action as we continue to be a responsible and reliable provider and trusted exporter of low-carbon energy."

The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure; Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment and members of the delegation accompanying the German Chancellor, as well as a number of ministers and senior officials.