Uniper, Oman eye green ammonia deal
German utility Uniper said on July 19 it had signed a co-operation agreement with Omani state enterprises to develop green ammonia from green hydrogen.
Uniper will join a project team to provide engineering services and negotiate an exclusive offtake agreement, with the green ammonia being delivered to the planned liquids import terminal at Wilhelmshaven on the German coast. Its presence will also help Hyport Duqm’s shareholders DEME Concessions and OQ Alternative Energy to secure optimal financing for the project.
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The first phase is a 250-500 MW green hydrogen facility at Duqm, which is planned to come into operation in 2026 and will respond to the global demand for green hydrogen and its derivatives. It will be built as part of a larger refining and petrochemicals hub under development in Duqm.
Future expansions are foreseen, whereby a further scaling-up of the value chain will transform the Special Economic Zone into a green hydrogen hub in Oman and the wider region. Hyport Duqm will connect to Port of Duqm’s brand-new export terminal, storage infrastructure and liquid jetties and will use Port of Duqm as its gateway to deliver competitive decarbonised molecules to users worldwide.
DEME Group CEO Luc Vandenbulcke said the project will not only contribute to the challenging European ambitions to reduce CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions but also strengthen Oman's "visionary future."
OQ Alternative Energy CEO Salim Al Huthaili said Uniper’s expertise would help ensure that Hyport Duqm is provided with the necessary talent and tools to take the project through the engineering phase.
Uniper CCO Niek den Hollander said: “We need to get hydrogen out of the laboratory and start using it in large-scale applications and marketable industrial solutions – we should turn it into a market and exploit its wide variety of uses. One way of achieving this is to import green ammonia and convert it into hydrogen, which is something we are looking at for Wilhelmshaven on Germany's North Sea coast. Germany will be heavily dependent on imports if we want to use hydrogen to help us achieve our climate goals.”
Uniper's regional head John Roper said the project would take advantage of some of the world’s lowest levelised costs of energy, thereby delivering cost competitive hydrogen or its derivatives, such as green ammonia, to Germany and Europe. And "with Uniper as the offtake partner for green ammonia, the partnership will benefit from the additional value added through Uniper’s global commodity trading network,” he said.