ABU DHABI — The United Arab Emirates and Japan today agreed to cooperate on Fuel Ammonia and Carbon Recycling technologies during the UAE’s virtual business trip to Japan.

The agreement follows the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, highlighting the ambition of the UAE and Japan to harness new commercially feasible technologies to reduce carbon emissions.

Ammonia will play an important role in enabling the hydrogen economy in the future and can serve as a hydrogen carrier and zero-emission fuel.

During the trip, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Group CEO, and Kajiyama Hiroshi, Japan Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), discussed new opportunities for strategic cooperation between the UAE and Japan.

The discussion focused on industrial cooperation, climate change, Hydrogen and post-COVID-19 economic recovery and took place during the UAE’s virtual business trip to Japan which had in attendance Shehab Ahmed Al Fahim, UAE Ambassador to Japan.

Dr. Al Jaber said, "We are very pleased to sign this important agreement with Japan that will allow both our countries to cooperate on fuel ammonia and carbon recycling technologies. This is another significant development for the UAE as we continue to explore the potential of new fuels that can help us produce more energy with fewer emissions. We are also pleased to collaborate with IFAD and our Japanese partners to explore pricing their crude against the ICE Murban Crude Oil Futures which will be launching in March.

"These agreements build on the strong and deep-rooted bilateral ties between the UAE and Japan and highlights the commitment of the UAE leadership to expanding the economic and trade relations between both countries. Japan is ADNOC’s largest international importer of oil and gas products with approximately 25 percent of its crude oil imported from the UAE and we continue to welcome new and existing Japanese partners to explore win-win investment and growth opportunities in the UAE and across ADNOC’s full value chain as we focus on the post-coronavirus recovery."

The UAE virtual business trip is aimed at expanding bilateral economic and trade relations between both countries as they drive post-Covid economic growth. The trip included presentations from representatives of the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, Masdar, Mohammed Bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence, and executives from ADNOC’s directorates.

Kajiyama Hiroshi said that METI is now promoting comprehensive resource diplomacy, including hydrogen and ammonia, with a focus on decarbonization, in order to further strengthen our relationship with the UAE. Kajiyama also said that METI is very pleased to sign this MOC and hope to work closely with the UAE to promote cooperation in the field of fuel ammonia and carbon recycling.

Dr. Al Jaber also met with the CEOs of INPEX Corporation (INPEX), ENEOS Corporation, Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd., Cosmo Energy Holdings Co. Ltd., JERA Co. Inc., Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., Marubeni Corporation, Itochu Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank Ltd., and MUFG Bank Ltd., during a CEO roundtable to explore collaborating in areas of mutual interest across various sectors.

At the meeting, ADNOC and ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) signed agreements with Cosmo Oil Co. Ltd. and other Japanese end-users to explore the potential opportunity to price crude oil with reference to the new ICE Murban Crude Oil Futures. Cosmo has long-standing partnerships in Abu Dhabi’s upstream sector. Cosmo is a shareholder of Abu Dhabi Oil Co. Ltd (ADOC) and has a stake in Bunduq Company Limited.

IFAD plans to launch trading of the Murban Futures contract on March 29, 2021. IFAD will be the world’s first trading platform to include futures contracts based on Abu Dhabi’s unique grade of Murban crude — increasingly the benchmark grade in Asia’s fast-growing economies. Nine of the world’s largest energy companies and traders will join ICE and ADNOC as founding partners in IFAD, including INPEX and ENEOS (formally known as JXTG) from Japan.

During the virtual trip, ADNOC highlighted investment and partnership opportunities across its value chain and emphasized its willingness to partner with Japanese companies as it delivers its 2030 strategy.

ADNOC has a long history of mutually beneficial strategic partnerships with Japanese oil and gas companies that span over four decades and cover the entire oil and gas value chain. These partnerships have strengthened in recent years.

In January 2020, ADNOC signed an agreement with the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of Japan, for the storage of over 8 million barrels of crude oil at storage facilities in Japan. The agreement extended and expanded the previous strategic crude oil storage agreement between the two nations that expired at the end of 2019.

In 2019, ADNOC awarded the exploration rights for Abu Dhabi Onshore Block 4 to INPEX. This award was preceded by ADNOC’s award to INPEX in 2018 of a 10 percent stake in the new Lower Zakum offshore concession, an extension of INPEX’s 40 percent stake in Satah, and an increase in its stake in Umm Al Dalkh from 12 percent to 40 percent. INPEX was also awarded a 5 percent stake in the Abu Dhabi Onshore Concession in 2015.

Both the UAE and Japan enjoy strong bilateral economic relations dating back to 1961 when the first shipment of UAE crude oil was exported from the Umm al-Shaif offshore field in Abu Dhabi to Japan. The total value of non-oil trade between the UAE and Japan reached 481.34 billion dirhams ($130.8 billion) over the past ten years from 2009 to 2019. — WAM