Abu Dhabi-listed Fertiglobe plans to invest more than $1 billion (3.67 billion UAE dirhams) to produce blue ammonia depending on securing purchase commitments from Asia, according to a media report.
Japan and South Korea have plans to subsidise some imports of the commodity, Bloomberg reported, citing CEO Ahmed El-Hoshy.
He added that securing contracts under such programmes will allow Fertiglobe to take a final investment decision on a blue ammonia project in the UAE.
The increased production will come through the upgrade of Fertiglobe’s existing project at Ta’ziz in Ruwais, which is due to start ammonia production in 2027, the report said.
In November 2024, Zawya Projects reported El-Hoshy as saying that green ammonia offtake agreements are unlikely to gain traction in the near future due to inadequate carbon pricing and intense price competition among multiple projects.
Fertiglobe, the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia combined and the largest nitrogen fertiliser producer in the MENA region, secured a green ammonia offtake agreement with Hintco in Germany in July 2024 through the first H2Global pilot auction for renewable ammonia, funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Zawya Projects reported in July 2024 that the company intends to supply 19,500 tonnes in 2027, with volumes potentially scaling up to 397,000 tonnes cumulatively by 2033.
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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