(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates’s main oil company is looking to transfer some ammonia assets to its unit Fertiglobe Plc and plans to expand production of the low-carbon product.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which completed the $3.6 billion purchase of a majority stake in Fertiglobe on Tuesday, is boosting its chemicals business as it sees growth in demand for these products outlasting that for gasoline and diesel amid the energy transition. Adnoc this month agreed to buy German chemical maker Covestro AG in the biggest acquisition of a European company by a firm from the Persian Gulf.
“We’re going to become the low-carbon ammonia platform for Adnoc globally,” Fertiglobe’s Chief Executive Office Ahmed El-Hoshy said in an interview. “Adnoc is looking at ammonia as one of the energy transition commodities over the next few decades.”
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Adnoc will contribute stakes in planned ammonia projects to Fertiglobe, he said. The fertilizer and chemicals unit will pay Adnoc a cost-based price for the facilities at their completion, meaning Fertiglobe won’t have to carry the projects on its books while they’re in construction, El-Hoshy said.
The facilities include two planned ammonia plants of 1 million tons a year in the refining and chemicals hub of Ruwais south of Abu Dhabi city as well as other international projects.
Adding these projects to Fertiglobe’s portfolio will more than double the company’s net ammonia production by the end of the decade, to nearly 4 million tons annually, El-Hoshy said.
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