Fertiglobe, a joint venture between Adnoc and OCI, will join the development of a large blue ammonia plant in the UAE’s downstream centre in Ruwais.
Fertiglobe will join the development in the Ta'ziz Industrial Chemicals Zone within Ruwais, which is being developed by Adnoc and holding company ADQ to manufacture downstream products.
“This is a significant milestone in the development of our blue hydrogen and ammonia business and capitalises on the strong foundation that Adnoc has developed with Fertiglobe,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc.
“We believe hydrogen and its carrier fuels such as ammonia offer strong potential as low-carbon energy sources.”
Last month, Adnoc announced the development of the blue ammonia project to advance the UAE's hydrogen economy.
Blue ammonia is a more easily transportable fuel source made from blue hydrogen, a by-product of carbon dioxide that has been captured and stored.
The blue aspect refers to hydrogen derived from natural gas feedstocks. The plant will have a production capacity of 1,000 kilotonnes a year.
In May, Adnoc and OCI announced preparations for a potential listing of Fertiglobe.
Adnoc holds a 42 per cent stake in Fertiglobe, with OCI retaining the majority 58 per cent interest. OCI is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange and has Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris as its biggest shareholder. Microsoft founder Bill Gates also owns a 6 per cent stake in the company.
Ta'ziz and Fertiglobe will undertake feasibility and design work to study the potential to develop blue ammonia. The final investment decision on the project is expected in 2022, with start-up targeted for 2025.
The blue ammonia venture "fits well in our strategy to decarbonise our global and regional platforms," said Mr Sawiris, who is executive chairman of OCI and chief executive of Fertiglobe.
"It helps grow our low-carbon and clean fuels product offering, which includes our fast-growing biofuels business," he said.
The Dutch company is building a blue ammonia plant in Texas with an annual output of 365,000 tonnes.
The Abu Dhabi venture will also help boost both OCI and Fertiglobe's position in ammonia, Mr Sawiris said.
The UAE is drawing up a comprehensive road map to position itself as an exporter of hydrogen and tap into the clean fuel’s potential.
Globally, the size of the hydrogen industry is expected to hit $183 billion by 2023, up from $129bn in 2017, according to Fitch Solutions. French investment bank Natixis estimates that investment in hydrogen will exceed $300bn by 2030.
"Ammonia is a versatile and clean hydrogen carrier, with many exciting fuel applications, in addition to a diverse array of fertiliser and downstream industrial uses," Mr Sawiris said.
The use of ammonia as a shipping fuel is particularly promising as it is, together with methanol, the only practical alternative for long-distance shipping to decarbonise in a cost-effective way, he added.
Adnoc, Mubadala and ADQ are part of an alliance to develop a hydrogen economy in the UAE.
Adnoc already produces 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen on an annual basis for its downstream operations and plans to increase its output significantly.
The company plans to expand its manufacturing capacity for the clean gas to more than 500,000 tonnes.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
World%20Cup%202023%20ticket%20sales
%3Cp%3EAugust%2025%20%E2%80%93%20Non-India%20warm-up%20matches%20and%20all%20non-India%20event%20matches%0D%3Cbr%3EAugust%2030%20%E2%80%93%20India%20matches%20at%20Guwahati%20and%20Trivandrum%0D%3Cbr%3EAugust%2031%20%E2%80%93%20India%20matches%20at%20Chennai%2C%20Delhi%20and%20Pune%0D%3Cbr%3ESeptember%201%20%E2%80%93%20India%20matches%20at%20Dharamsala%2C%20Lucknow%20and%20Mumbai%0D%3Cbr%3ESeptember%202%20%E2%80%93%20India%20matches%20at%20Bengaluru%20and%20Kolkata%0D%3Cbr%3ESeptember%203%20%E2%80%93%20India%20matches%20at%20Ahmedabad%0D%3Cbr%3ESeptember%2015%20%E2%80%93%20Semi-finals%20and%20Final%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
Profile box
Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
Zayed Sustainability Prize
