Abu Dhabi eyes new hydrogen frontiers

Two recently announced ventures will see the emirate’s increasing production of the gas being deployed in steel and fertiliser industries

Amid the string of announcements over the past eight months asserting Abu Dhabi’s arrival on the international hydrogen stage, two in a day in early August stood out as affirming intent both to decarbonise domestic industries and exploit other countries’ desire to do so. First, state-owned duo Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) and Emirates Steel agreed to collaborate on the Middle East’s first use of hydrogen in steelmaking—a notoriously hard-to-decarbonise process. Meanwhile, state-owned Adnoc advanced plans to become a core provider of the vast volumes of hydrogen required to fulfil Japan’s emissions-reduction ambitions by exporting a first cargo of blue ammonia to Japanese firm Ito