Japan, Abu Dhabi Lock Arms on Energy Transition Financing

---

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Advancing its efforts to establish itself as a clean energy leader, Abu Dhabi's national oil company has signed a $3 billion green energy financing agreement with Japan.

The credit is part of the so-called Global action for Reconciling Economic Growth and Environmental preservation (GREEN) lending program steered by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

"The JBIC aims to contribute to realizing a sustainable society and environment through green finance, and we issue green bonds to raise the necessary funds for green finance," the Tokyo lender explained.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), for its part, said it was committed to investing some US$23 billion by 2030 to advance its decarbonization strategy. The company itself aims to cut its carbon intensity 25% by the end of the decade.

Khaled al-Zaabi, ADNOC's chief financial officer, said the funding agreement with JBIC would help address those aims.

"The agreement also marks the next milestone in the long-standing strategic energy relationship between the UAE and Japan, and we look forward to further collaboration with JBIC as ADNOC delivers against its ambitious growth strategy," he said Thursday.

JBIC added the credit arrangement is emblematic of Japan's strategic relationship with Abu Dhabi, which has supplied the island nation with crude oil for more than 40 years. JBIC in an announcement on the credit facility on Thursday said it believes Abu Dhabi, despite its vast oil and gas resources, has "high potential" for decarbonization through its renewable energy resources and a geography that's supportive of carbon capture and storage.

ADNOC in May delivered its first-ever shipment of ammonia to Japan, which the company said was a promising source of clean fuels with a range of applications, from power to transportation.

Mishandling, however, can lead to the release of the nitrogen-based chemicals behind smog and acid rain.

Nonetheless, ammonia has no carbon atoms, making it an attractive alternative in the global pursuit of cleaner fuels.

ADNOC sourced the low-carbon ammonia from a facility located at the Ruwais Industrial City that stores any associated emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in a saline aquifer in the area.

The Abu Dhabi company is developing a facility at the Ta'ziz Industrial Chemicals Zone that could produce as much as 1 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per year. A separate facility would create some 360,000 tons of hydrogen each year, capturing 3 million tons of CO2 in the process.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).