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Fertiglobe delays final investment decision on Project Rabdan

15 August 2025

UAE-based fertiliser producer Fertiglobe has delayed the final investment decision (FID) on its planned low‑carbon hydrogen and ammonia production facility in Abu Dhabi – Project Rabdan.

The Rabdan complex will use natural gas supplied by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) – Fertiglobe’s parent company and majority shareholder – to produce up to 1 million tonnes a year (t/y) of low‑carbon liquid ammonia, also known as blue ammonia.

Located in Ruwais, the Rabdan facility will also have the capacity to produce 192,000 t/y of blue hydrogen and 892,000 t/y of nitrogen for supply to a local offtaker.

In its Q2 and H1 2025 financial results announcement, Fertiglobe stated that it had decided to “rephase Project Rabdan”.

“While Fertiglobe remains dedicated to advancing its low-carbon project portfolio, the company recognises that the global low-carbon ammonia market remains in the early stages of development, with regulatory frameworks and demand signals continuing to evolve. As such, and in line with Fertiglobe’s disciplined approach to capital deployment across its low-carbon ammonia project pipeline, Fertiglobe has taken the decision to rephase Project Rabdan,” the company said.

“This decision reflects the company’s prudent investment strategy and commitment to timing capital allocation effectively and is consistent with the broader objectives of the Grow 2030 Strategy, particularly its focus on disciplined low-carbon growth,” the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange-listed company said.

Fertiglobe’s CEO, Ahmed El-Hoshy, told MEED in May that he expected the FID for Project Rabdan to be reached in 2026.

Project Rabdan

The planned Rabdan facility is part of an expansion phase of the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais Industrial City, which is being developed by Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC (Taziz) – in which Adnoc and industrial holding company ADQ are 60:40 shareholders.

In addition to the main blue ammonia production plant, the planned complex will also feature units for hydrogen production and synthesis gas purification, as well as pipelines for the transport of feedstock gas, hydrogen and nitrogen.

The Rabdan facility will have its own storage, export, utilities and offsite units, and will also tap into those from the wider Taziz ecosystem.

A carbon capture and storage (CCS) system within the Rabdan complex will capture, compress and transport carbon dioxide emissions from its operations to a larger Adnoc CCS hub in Ruwais.

MEED reported in March that Adnoc was initiating a feed-to-EPC competition to deliver the Rabdan project. The model involves the project operator selecting contractors to execute the feed work and then choosing the contractor with the most competitive feed proposal to execute EPC works on the project, while also compensating the other contestants for their work.

The following contractors are understood to have submitted bids to Adnoc for the feed-to-EPC contest for the Rabdan project by the deadline of 8 March:

  • GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
  • Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • Linde (Germany)
  • McDermott (US)
  • Saipem (Italy)
  • Samsung E&A (South Korea)
  • Technip Energies (France)
  • Tecnimont (Italy)

MEED later learnt from sources that Adnoc/Fertiglobe shortlisted Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon, Linde and Technip Energies to participate in the feed-to-EPC competition for the project.

However, the prices submitted by the bidders for feed work were above Adnoc/Fertiglobe’s budget, leading to a stalemate.

Fertiglobe financial performance

Adnoc became the majority shareholder in Fertiglobe after completing a transaction in October wherein it increased its shareholding in the company from 36.2% to 86.2%. The remaining 13.8% of Fertiglobe’s shares trade on the ADX, following the company’s stock listing in October 2022.

In the second quarter of this year, Fertiglobe announced that its net profit attributable to shareholders stood at $12m, representing a 68% year-on-year increase. The company reported revenues of $566m, reflecting a 14% year-on-year increase, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 26% to $176m.

In the first half of 2025, Fertiglobe reported a net profit of $85m, representing an 18% decline compared to the prior year, driven by a one-off foreign exchange gain in the first half of 2024. Revenues in the first half of the year stood at $1.26bn, reflecting a 20% increase year-on-year increase. Adjusted Ebitda for the period stood at $437m, up 36% year-on-year.

Blue hydrogen and ammonia goals

Abu Dhabi is set to become a major producer of blue hydrogen and blue ammonia when the first phase of the complex in the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone, which is currently under construction, enters operations in 2027.

The complex, known as Project Harvest, will be located within the first phase of the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone.

A joint venture of Fertiglobe, South Korea’s GS Energy Corporation and Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Company is the main stakeholder in Project Harvest, which will have an output capacity of 1 million t/y.

The joint venture awarded Tecnimont the main contract, worth $500m, for EPC works on the blue ammonia production project in May 2024. El-Hoshy said Fertiglobe and its partners expect to start operations at the Project Harvest complex in 2027.

Fertiglobe, in its financial results announcement for Q2 and H1 2025, confirmed that Project Harvest is “currently under construction” and “remains a core part of our decarbonisation roadmap”.

Together, Projects Harvest and Rabdan could add 2 million t/y of capacity, more than doubling Fertiglobe’s current 1.6 million t/y ammonia capacity and increasing its total sellable capacity to 8.6 million t/y of net ammonia and urea combined, in addition to other announced global projects.

US blue hydrogen project

Fertiglobe, separately, said it “continues to evaluate the development of Project Baytown in collaboration with Adnoc and ExxonMobil, as part of our broader efforts to advance low-carbon ammonia solutions globally”.

Last September, Adnoc signed an agreement with US energy producer ExxonMobil to become a stakeholder in a proposed blue hydrogen and blue ammonia production facility in Baytown, in the US state of Texas.

As part of the agreement, Adnoc will become a 35% stakeholder in the planned facility, with ExxonMobil owning the majority 65% stake. The facility is projected to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of blue, or low-carbon, hydrogen and more than 1 million t/y of blue ammonia, which would make it the world’s largest such facility of its kind.

The project partners, at the time of signing the agreement, said they expect to achieve FID on the project in 2025, with the facility scheduled to enter operations in 2029.

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Indrajit Sen

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