Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 31 2021

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ADNOC and Fertiglobe sell blue

ammonia to Itochu

JAPAN ABU Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and of blue ammonia.”
its Fertiglobe joint venture (JV) this week have In June, ADNOC announced that Fertiglobe
announced that they have sold their first cargo would become a partner in a 1mn tpy blue
of blue ammonia to Japan’s Itochu for use in the ammonia project at TA’ZIZ within the Ruwais
production of fertiliser. Derivatives Park. TA’ZIZ is a JV development
The sale comes as ADNOC seeks to expand between ADNOC and holding company ADQ,
its capabilities throughout the energy value chain which seeks to drive the development of indus-
and diversify its revenue streams in line with the trial projects within the planned Ruwais down-
Emirate’s recent efforts to establish itself at the stream hub and drive economic diversification.
centre of the nascent hydrogen market as a major It was launched in November last year, and
supplier of green and blue hydrogen to Japan and marine and land surveys have now been com-
other Asian countries. pleted. ADNOC and ADQ have awarded con-
According to a statement from ADNOC, Fer- tracts for the first stages of development of the
tiglobe will produce blue ammonia at the Fertil site and work is underway on geotechnical and
plant in the Ruwais Industrial Complex for deliv- topographical and marine bathymetric surveys.
ery to ADNOC’s customers in Japan. The plant At launch, the partners said Fertiglobe would
has a production capacity of 1.2mn tonnes per be the largest export-focused nitrogen fertiliser
year of ammonia and 2.1mn tpy of urea. platform globally, and the largest producer in
It noted that the shipments were “sold at MENA with an output capacity of 5mn tpy of
an attractive premium to grey ammonia [and] urea and 1.5mn tpy of merchant ammonia from
underscore the favourable economics for blue facilities in Algeria, Egypt and the UAE.
ammonia as an emerging source of low-carbon Meanwhile, the sale to Japan follows an early
energy”. July agreement between ADNOC and Japan’s
The Fertiglobe JV was formed in 2019 and INPEX, JERA and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals
comprises the ammonia and urea assets of the National Corp. (JOGMEC) to explore the com-
two partners and companies EBIC, EFC, Sor- mercial potential of blue ammonia production
fert, and Fertil (formerly ADNOC Fertilizers). in the UAE.
ADNOC holds a stake of 58% in Fertiglobe, with UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced
OCI owning the remainder. Technology and ADNOC Group CEO Sultan
ADNOC said that the first production Al Jaber said the announcement “builds upon
marked a milestone in the Abu Dhabi’s plans to ADNOC’s commitment to expanding the UAE’s
ramp up its capacity for blue ammonia output, position as a regional leader in the production of
“which is expected to include a low-cost debot- hydrogen and its carrier fuels, meeting the needs
tlenecking programme at Fertil”. of critical global export markets such as Japan.”
The company added that “while the ammonia He added: “Through the expansion of our
Fertil produces is typically considered as ‘grey’ capabilities across the blue ammonia value chain,
ammonia, the plant will be fitted with CO2 liq- we look forward to furthering our legacy as one
uefaction units, and CO2 will be transferred to of the world’s least carbon-intensive hydro-
– and reinjected into – underground reservoirs carbon producers and supporting industrial
by the ADNOC Al Reyadah carbon capture and decarbonisation with a competitive low-carbon
storage [CCS] plant to facilitate the production product portfolio.”™

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