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Woodside to acquire OCI’s blue ammonia project in Texas: Sawiris-backed, Netherlands-headquartered chemicals company OCI Global has sold its entire stake in a low-carbon ammonia project in Texas for USD 2.35 bn to Australia’s largest oil and gas developer Woodside Energy, according to a statement (pdf). The agreement is expected to close during 2H 2024, subject to receipt of OCI shareholder approval.
About the plant: OCI’s Texas facility is one of the biggest blue ammonia projects under construction in the world with an expected capacity of 1.1 mn tons per annum. The factory is set to begin production next year. Under the agreement, OCI will continue to manage the construction, commissioning and launch of the plant and handover a fully staffed and operational project to Woodside, the statement notes.
Blue ammonia investment is a growing trend amongst big oil: Woodside — aiming to become a “global LNG powerhouse” — is following the global trend of big oil companies aiming to offset their emissions by investing in blue ammonia facilities, the Financial Times reports.
There’s movement regionally: Shell’s Blue Horizons low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia project in Oman entered its pre front-end engineering design (FEED) phase last month and Aramco’s first phase of its Accelerated Carbon Capture and Sequestration project also entered FEED scope the month prior in Saudi Arabia, which it plans to use for blue hydrogen production.
SOUND SMART- What is blue ammonia? Blue ammonia is produced using a low-carbon process involving the capture of carbon dioxide to produce hydrogen which is then combined with nitrogen, according to The National. Because the process is coupled with carbon capture, the blue ammonia production process can reportedly cut emissions by over 90%, according to global engineering firm Wood.
Sawiris has big restructuring plans for OCI: Egyptian b’naire Nassef Sawiris — who owns a 38.8% stake in the firm — said he was considering overhauling OCI GlobaI in February, with one of the options being turning the empire into a cash-shell company pursuing acquisitions in new industries. The company sold its 50% +1 stake in Fertiglobe — their JV with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company — to Adnoc for AED 13.28 bn (USD 3.62 bn) last December, with the acquisition expected to close later this year. OCI also sold 100% of its USD 3.6 bn stake in the US crop nutrient unit Iowa Fertilizers to US’ Koch Ag & Energy Solutions in the same month.
