Saudi company Maadan will export blue ammonia

 Saudi company Ma'adan has announced the export of blue ammonia amid the global transition to sustainable energy.

According to the Saudi news agency SPA, this was announced by Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman at the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP 27 Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

This comes after the mines got the accreditation certificate to export blue ammonia last month.

The certificate was issued by the German testing, inspection and certification agency TUV Rheinland.

He added that 138,000 tonnes of blue ammonia will be given to the mines, which is one of the largest quantities sanctioned in the world till date.

Blue ammonia is where CO2 is captured during the hydrogen (from natural gas) and nitrogen fusion production process. In this way, such emissions can be reduced by up to 90%.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the first batch of 25,000 tons of blue ammonia minerals will be sent from Saudi Arabia to South Korea this month.

This comes as the mining company seeks to support the global transition to sustainable energy and decarbonise its existing operations by adopting carbon capture technologies.

Additionally, during the Saudi Green Initiative Forum, Maaden signed a 20-year contract with Gulf Crew to build and operate a carbon dioxide capture plant at the Maaden Phosphate Complex in Ras Al Khair Industrial City.

The Saudi Arabian mining company decided in October to expand the capacity of its phosphate production complexes located in the Wad al-Shamal and Ras al-Khair industrial centers.

British company Petrofac has secured the engineering, procurement and construction contracts for both facilities, according to a Mead report.