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Shareholders sign Taziz blue ammonia agreement

18 January 2023

Fertiglobe, South Korea’s GS Energy Corporation (GS Energy) and Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Company (Mitsui) have signed a shareholder agreement to develop a planned blue ammonia facility in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.

The agreement is the latest between the three shareholders who intend to build the blue ammonia facility, with a targeted capacity of 1 million tonnes a year (t/y), but falls short of a final investment decision (FID), which was originally scheduled to be taken last year.

The planned blue ammonia complex is set to be located within the first phase of the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone, being developed by Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC (Taziz) – in which Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and industrial holding company ADQ are 60:40 shareholders.

“The agreement builds on Adnoc’s deep experience in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), Fertiglobe’s world-leading ammonia capabilities, and Mitsui and GS Energy’s leading roles in industrial decarbonisation,” Taziz said in a statement.

“It follows several agreements signed by Adnoc to explore hydrogen supply opportunities with customers in key demand centres including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Japan’s Mitsui and Korea’s GS Energy,” the statement added.

ALSO READ: Abu Dhabi launches next Taziz phase

On 24 May 2021, Adnoc announced that Taziz would move ahead with developing a “world-scale” blue ammonia production facility within the upcoming industrial ecosystem and petrochemicals derivatives hub in Ruwais.

Adnoc said at the time that contracts for the pre-feed work for the blue ammonia project, and six additional Taziz petrochemical derivatives projects in the first phase, have been awarded to UK consultant Wood Group.

Adnoc in May 2021 also said it will undertake a sole-risk feasibility study on blue ammonia.

Fertiglobe is an Abu Dhabi-based producer of nitrogen ammonia, in which Netherlands-headquartered OCI, remains the largest shareholder with a 50 per cent share. Adnoc owns a 36.2 per cent stake, with the remaining 13.8 per cent shares traded on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), with trading beginning as of 27 October 2021.

Fertiglobe is the largest seaborne exporter of nitrogen fertilisers globally, and the largest producer in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

The company was established in 2019, with OCI, which is backed by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, and Adnoc initially owning 58 per cent and 42 per cent stakes, respectively.

The company has a production capacity of 5 million t/y of urea and 1.5 million t/y of commercial ammonia, produced at four subsidiaries in the UAE, Egypt and Algeria.

Fertiglobe benefits from direct access to six key ports and distribution hubs on the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and the Gulf.

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Indrajit Sen

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