TOKYO  - Japan's Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Corp said on Friday they have won orders from QatarEnergy for high-alloy seamless pipes that will be used for carbon capture storage (CCS).

Nippon Steel has recently shipped the first products to Qatar's state-owned energy company which plans to build a "blue" ammonia manufacturing plant, with the CCS, in Qatar's Mesaieed region, one of the country's leading industrial zones, the Japanese steelmaker said in a statement.

While conventional ammonia production emits carbon dioxide (CO2) if it is made with fossil fuel, during the production of "blue" ammonia any CO2 generated is captured and stored.

Under the project, Nippon Steel's low-carbon products will be employed and this marks the first orders for high-alloy seamless pipes and the low-carbon steel for a large-scale CCS project in the Middle Eastern region, Nippon Steel said.

Sumitomo has signed a supply contract with QatarEnergy for the seamless pipes, to be manufactured by Nippon Steel, with the supply volume of about 1,000 metric tons, the trading house said in a separate statement.

QatarEnergy's blue ammonia plant is expected to come online in 2026 and to produce 1.2 million tons per year.

Ammonia is mainly made from hydrogen produced from natural gas and nitrogen from the air. It does not emit CO2 when burned.

It is principally used as a raw material for fertiliser and chemicals, but it can also be used as a low-carbon fuel in power stations.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by David Evans)