Adnoc looking to explore opportunities in hydrogen sector with Indian entities
Adnoc is interested in exploring hydrogen opportunities with India’s public and private sector entities as the UAE looks to use its existing hydrocarbon partnership to supply new forms of energy to SouthAsia’s biggest economy.
“Today, India is one of our biggest and most important trading partners, particularly in the field of energy,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc.
“And as India’s demand for energy grows, we stand ready to help meet that demand by making the full portfolio of our products available to the Indian market,” he said.
Dr Al Jaber was speaking at a high-level ministerial session on hydrogen organised by The Energy Forum, India’s petroleum ministry and the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry.
Adnoc can help India “navigate the global energy transition”, he said.
“We believe hydrogen offers promise and potential as a genuinely zero-carbon fuel.”
The development of the alternative fuel, which has become popular in several markets around the world, is being prioritised in the UAE, Opec’s third-largest producer.
Globally, the hydrogen industry is expected to grow to $183 billion by 2023, up from $129bn in 2017, according to Fitch Solutions.
French investment bank Natixis estimates that hydrogen investment will exceed $300bn by 2030.
Oil-exporting countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE plan to tap into hydrogen’s potential and produce the clean, alternative fuel for export in the future.
Adnoc, Abu Dhabi investment company Mubadala and holding company ADQ announced the formation of a hydrogen alliance earlier this year.
Adnoc, which already produces 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen on an annual basis for its downstream operations, plans to ramp up output significantly.
The company will expand its manufacturing capacity for the clean gas to more than 500,000 tonnes. The hydrogen alliance will pursue the development of green hydrogen across the UAE, while Adnoc will continue to produce blue hydrogen using its present infrastructure independently.
Blue hydrogen is manufactured through methane reformation, which relies on carbon capture and storage.
Green hydrogen relies on renewable sources to power electrolysis that splits water molecules to produce the gas.
The process is largely seen as expensive today.
However, a recent study by BloombergNEF found that green hydrogen could be cheaper than natural gas by 2050, as costs for solar power continue to decline.
“Working together, we are identifying viable international market opportunities and developing a roadmap to create a hydrogen ecosystem to serve both the UAE and the global market,” Dr Al Jaber told the forum.
The state oil company is currently working with present and potential partners to build value chains “required to seed the emerging hydrogen market”.
Adnoc is also looking to tap into its existing commercial-scale carbon capture and storage capacities to become a big player in the blue hydrogen sector.
The UAE intends to produce hydrogen using nuclear power, which will provide a continuous uninterrupted source of energy.
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Company, which is part of the portfolio of companies within ADQ, would supply the nuclear power.
Last month, the UAE Cabinet approved a nationwide system for hydrogen vehicles, as the country raises production of blue and green variants of the fuel.
We believe hydrogen offers promise and potential as a genuinely zero-carbon fuel DR SULTAN AL JABER Managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc