Building an ammonia supply chain in the UAE: bunkering, blue, and 2 GW of green ammonia
By on July 13, 2021
Japan partnerships and new bunkering facilities for ADNOC
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced this week that they will embark on a joint study with three Japanese organisations – INPEX, JERA and the government agency JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation) – to explore the commercial potential of blue ammonia production in the UAE.
As we reported in May, ADNOC is already embarking on a world-scale blue ammonia production facility at the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais, with a production capacity of 1 million tonnes per year, in partnership with Fertiglobe. Fertiglobe, an ammonia trading company, is a joint venture between ADNOC and OCI; also in May, OCI announced the full conversion to “blue ammonia” of its 365,000 tonne per year Beaumont plant, which will use “low-carbon hydrogen” as a feedstock from the second half of 2021.
Also in the news this week is ADNOC’s first foray into bunker fuels. A new bunkering facility at Abu Dhabi’s Port Zayed has just been commissioned, with a storage capacity of 7,500 metric tonnes.
(As a potential zero-carbon fuel source) hydrogen is currently in its infancy, but could become a game-changer in twenty years…The key to developing the hydrogen economy of the future will be aligning supply and demand, and developing the value chain connecting suppliers with customers in key markets. We are identifying viable international market opportunities, and developing a roadmap to create a hydrogen ecosystem. Not to serve only the UAE market, but to actually cater for the global market.
HE Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC in an interview with the Atlantic Council, 21 April 2021
2 GW green ammonia project at KIZAD
TAQA Group and Abu Dhabi Ports are planning a green ammonia export facility to be based in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD). A 2 GW solar power plant will power electrolyzers that will feed green hydrogen into the ammonia production facility, with a pipeline to connect the setup to storage tanks at nearby Khalifa Port.
With its strategic location between the East and the West, its proximity to KIZAD and Zonescorp, as well as the multimodal connectivity through sea, air and land linking Abu Dhabi to global markets, Khalifa Port is in an ideal position to become a major hub for green hydrogen and its derivatives exports to all international markets.
Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Group CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports in the project press release, 7 July 2021