Germany facing energy shortage due to Ukraine conflict, looks for energy

Berlin: Germany is on the brink of recession as Russia restrains its energy supply. Germany is now looking at Saudi and UAE to establish cooperation to overcome dependency on Russia. Last week, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, urgently visited the Middle East. He signed an important agreement with the UAE and initiated a discussion to establish cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

Two days back, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, started his Middle east visit from Saudi Arabia. The German government informed that the chancellor’s visit was planned to mitigate the current energy storage. Accordingly, he met the Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The German government informed that the leaders discussed bilateral relations and cooperation. Germany, although the energy corporation agreement could not be concluded during this visit, the possibility of it happening in the coming times cannot be ruled out.

Later the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, visited the UAE and met Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to conclude the energy cooperation agreement. Accordingly, UAE will supply 1.37 lakh cubic meters of natural gas to German company RWE by the end of the year. Germany claims that the supply from UAE will not be able to meet the entire demand of Germany but will help mitigate the immediate crisis and provide time for the economy to recover.

Germany considered the engine of Europe’s economy, depended entirely on Russia’s 56 billion cubic meters of natural gas supply. The gas supply has been disrupted in the last six months due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Hence the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had to plan visits to UAE, Saudi and Qatar to establish energy cooperation to ensure the smooth running of the German economy.

However, Olaf Scholz’s visit has been criticised from within Germany for indirectly supporting and giving clean chit to UAE, Saudi and Qatar, which have human rights violation records. But Chancellor Scholz supposedly discussed the issue of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s case. At the same time, the German government supported the visit by claiming that the UAE and other countries have adopted policy reforms.