From the end of December, the first tanker carrying liquefied natural gas from the United Arab Emirates will arrive at the LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel near Hamburg in northern Germany.

This arrangement has materialized following a deal struck between German utility RWE for offtake of gas from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the UAE.

On top of this comes a deal ensuring 250,000 tonnes of diesel per month from the Emirates starting from 2023, writes the nation’s state-run news agency, WAM.

According to Reuters, German company Hoyer will be buying the diesel from ADNOC.

While the gas deliveries coming in December are relatively modest, the deal is politically significant, reports Reuters.

It will help boost the supply of gas to the biggest economy in Europe now that gas supply from Russia has ben cut off as a result of the war in Ukraine.

The deal also includes a memorandum of understanding for multi-year LNG deliveries from ADNOC to RWE.

The agreement was finalized Sunday on the second day of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ visit to the Gulf region where he is working to ensure energy for Germany.

Per the deal, 137,000 cubic meters of LNG will be shipped to Germany in December. According to RWE, this marks the first LNG gas being delivered to the Brunsbüttel terminal.

The number of deliveries agreed upon for 2023 is yet undisclosed.

Research firm Enerdata claims that two new planned LNG terminals in Brunsbüttel will be capable of receiving up to 12.5 billion cubic meters of LNG per year, corresponding to 13% of Germany’s gas consumption in 2021.

Russia’s gas flowed to Germany through pipelines.

German officials say that they hope the deal with ADNOC as well as a string of additional gas agreements will serve to deflate the high energy prices.

Sunday evening, Scholz paid a visit Qatar, also to discuss purchasing gas.

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