Adnoc signs 15-year LNG agreement with Germany’s EnBW

The agreement is Abu Dhabi energy major's second with a German company for Ruwais LNG

Adnoc headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Adnoc Gas expects to acquire Adnoc’s 60 per cent stake in the Ruwais project at cost, estimated at about $5 billion, in 2028. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Adnoc has signed a sales and purchase agreement with German energy infrastructure company EnBW to supply 600,000 tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas for a period of 15 years.

The LNG will primarily be sourced from Adnoc’s Ruwais LNG project, which will become operational in 2028, the Abu Dhabi-based energy company said in a statement on Monday.

More than 8 million tonnes per annum of the project’s 9.6 mtpa production capacity has been committed to international customers through long-term deals, the company said.

The agreement with EnBW is Adnoc’s second with a German company for Ruwais LNG, following a 15-year, 1 mtpa deal signed in November with state-owned energy company SEFE.

“Finalising this contract is a significant step in furthering our relationship and expanding our LNG portfolio,” said Peter Heydecker, EnBW board member for sustainable generation infrastructure.

“We will continue to work with … Adnoc to develop other opportunities in LNG and adjacent businesses and look forward to a mutually beneficial long-term relationship and joint business success,” he added.

Adnoc Gas said last month that it expects to acquire Adnoc’s 60 per cent stake in the Ruwais project at cost – estimated at about $5 billion – in the second half of 2028. Once complete, the project will double Adnoc Gas's LNG production capacity to about 15 mtpa.

LNG buyers are locking in long-term contracts for future supply even though a market glut is expected to lower prices in the coming years.

This year, a total of 31.2 mtpa of LNG capacity was secured under long-term contracts, with Qatar Petroleum signing the highest long-term LNG contract volumes among vendor companies in 2024, GlobalData said in a November report.

Earlier this month, QatarEnergy and Shell entered into a long-term sale and purchase agreement for the supply of 3 mtpa of LNG to China, the world's second-largest economy.

Global LNG demand is estimated to rise by more than 50 per cent by 2040, as industrial coal-to-gas switching gathers pace in Asia and South-east Asian countries use more LNG to support their economic growth, Shell said in a February report.

International LNG trade reached 404 million tonnes last year, up from 397 million tonnes in 2022, with tight supplies of LNG constraining growth, the report said.