Adnoc has signed the first long-term sales and purchase agreement with Germany's Sefe (Securing Energy for Europe) for its Ruwais liquefied natural gas project in Abu Dhabi, boosting the emirate’s status as an energy investment hub.
The state-owned oil major announced the 15-year, 1 million tonnes per annum agreement with Sefe's subsidiary, Sefe Marketing and Trading Singapore, at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec) on Wednesday.
The financial value of the deal was not disclosed.
The LNG will primarily be sourced from the Ruwais project, with deliveries expected to start in 2028 once commercial operations begin, Adnoc said. More than 7 metric tonnes per annum of the Ruwais LNG project’s production capacity has been committed to international customers through long-term agreements to date.
Adnoc's Ruwais LNG project will comprise two 4.8 mtpa LNG liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 9.6 mtpa per annum, which will more than double Adnoc's existing LNG production capacity in the UAE to approximately 15 mtpa.
It is also set to be the first LNG export centres in the Middle East and Africa region to run on clean power, making it one of the lowest-carbon-intensity LNG plants in the world, according to Adnoc.
“As natural gas demand continues to increase, Adnoc is ensuring greater access to lower-carbon gas to power homes, fuel industries and keep people connected, and we will continue to reinforce our role as a reliable global supplier of natural gas,” Fatema Al Nuaimi, executive vice president for downstream business management at Adnoc, said.
Demand for LNG has increased in Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, as countries seek to diversify their energy sources and reduce dependence on Russian gas supplies.
Last year, Adnoc and German power company RWE announced the delivery of the first LNG shipment from the UAE to Germany.
Germany, the EU’s largest economy, plans to produce 80 per cent of its electricity using renewable energy sources by 2030.
However, Berlin is still reliant on fossil fuels for domestic power production.
Natural gas, crude oil and coal were collectively responsible for about 80 per cent of the country’s energy supply in 2022, the latest data from the International Energy Agency shows.
Sefe's partnership with Adnoc will help the former's efforts to “responsibly” diversify its energy sources, as well as enhance the security of energy supply for Germany and Europe, and help its customers with decarbonisation, said Egbert Laege, chief executive of Sefe.
“Furthermore, it is an important step for Sefe's ambition to drive the energy transition and become a European energy major in the low-carbon economy,” he said.
The sales and purchase agreement, announced on Wednesday, converts the previous initial agreement between Adnoc and Sefe in March into a definitive agreement.
The new Adnoc-Sefe agreement also builds on the UAE-Germany Energy Security and Industry Accelerator signed by the two countries in 2022, which aims to advance co-operation in energy security, decarbonisation and lower-carbon fuels.
Adnoc, which is responsible for almost all of the UAE’s oil production, is looking to position itself as a major player in the LNG market, as demand for the fuel is projected to grow over the next few decades.
In September, it signed a preliminary 15-year agreement with state-backed Indian Oil to supply 1 million tonnes a year of LNG to India and agreed to acquire a 35 per cent equity stake in US oil major ExxonMobil’s proposed blue hydrogen and ammonia production centre in Texas.
In May, Adnoc acquired an 11.7 per cent stake in phase one of NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export project in Texas, marking its first investment in the US.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
