WILHELMSHAVEN/ABU DHABI (dpa-AFX) - The first large shipment of diesel fuel from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has arrived in Germany. This was announced on Monday by the company responsible, the energy trader Hoyer from Visselhövede in Lower Saxony. The deal had been agreed last year during Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Abu Dhabi. "The shipment has been unloading in Wilhelmshaven since this morning," it said. The ship had taken on the diesel in the UAE at the end of January, and part of the quantity was unloaded in France. According to the agreement reached last September, Germany is to receive up to 250,000 tons of diesel per month from Emirati state-owned ADNOC starting this year.

During Scholz's visit to the Persian Gulf, the two sides also discussed the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a substitute for Russian gas; the contracting partner here is the RWE Group. Hoyer left it open when exactly the next diesel delivery from the UAE is expected in Wilhelmshaven. The fuel will be distributed from the city on the Jade Bay "in order to reliably supply various locations".

One of the reasons why the first delivery had been delayed until the beginning of March was that there had initially been questions about whether the fuel met German industrial standards - it could no longer be accepted as "winter diesel". The possible volume of a quarter of a million tons per month should be understood as a maximum option, the trader said: "We have access to this quantity."/jap/DP/mis