Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change is on a 3-day working visit in Japan. He has held series of high-level meetings with senior Japanese government and business leaders, to strengthen economic, energy and industrial cooperation between the UAE and Japan and drive low carbon growth opportunities.
During the visit, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), ENEOS Corporation and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) signed an agreement to explore establishing a hydrogen supply chain between the UAE and Japan. The agreement will assess the potential to convert hydrogen produced as a by-product from ADNOC's refining and petrochemical operations and blue hydrogen produced from natural gas (hydrogen produced from CO2 captured and stored in the production process) to methylcyclohexane (MCH), an efficient form of hydrogen transport, for export to Japan.
Separately, Mitsui signed an agreement to partner with Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd (TA’ZIZ), Fertiglobe and GS Energy in the world-scale low-carbon blue ammonia production facility at the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The initial agreement was announced in November 2021 and the project will accelerate Abu Dhabi’s position as a leader in low-carbon fuels, capitalizing on the demand for blue ammonia as a carrier fuel for clean hydrogen.
The low-carbon blue ammonia project is expected to commence production in 2025, with a production capacity of approximately 1 million tons per annum of blue ammonia. The TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone is a joint venture between ADNOC and ADQ.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sumitomo Corporation to develop waste-to-energy projects. This partnership aims to open up prospects for cooperation between the two companies in a range of projects, including a facility to treat 390,000 tons of waste annually and generate 25 megawatts of energy.
The UAE and Japan enjoy a robust bilateral trade relationship. In 2021, the UAE was Japan’s 10th largest trading partner globally. Bilateral trade between both countries exceeded $30 billion in 2021, with UAE exports to Japan rising to $26 billion, and imports from Japan increasing to $6.2 billion. More than 340 Japanese companies are based in the UAE, working in various sectors including infrastructure, industry and energy.
The last 12 months have witnessed further economic co-operation between the UAE and Japan, with the signing of an agreement between ADNOC and three Japanese companies, INPEX Corporation, JERA Co. Inc and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation to explore the commercial potential of blue ammonia production in the UAE. Both countries also agreed to cooperate on fuel ammonia and carbon recycling technologies following a Memorandum of Cooperation between ADNOC and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in January 2021.
