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Woodside to acquire OCI’s blue ammonia project in Texas for USD 2.3 bn: Australia’s largest oil and gas developer Woodside Energy agreed to acquire a low-carbon ammonia project in Texas for USD 2.35 bn from Netherlands-headquartered chemicals company and Fertiglobe’s majority shareholder, OCI Global, according to a statement. The agreement is set to close during 2H 2024 with Woodside acquiring full equity interests in the project.
REMEMBER- OCI Global has deep ties with Adnoc: The company sold its 50% +1 stake in Fertiglobe — its JV with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company — to Adnoc for AED 13.28 bn (USD 3.62 bn), with the acquisition expected to close later this year. The two companies also inked an MoU to explore importing and distributing ammonia in the EU in December, including through investments in decarbonization and product distribution projects in North America and Europe. OCI is also considering offering its US crop nutrient unit Iowa Fertilizers to Adnoc for more than USD 3 bn.
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 plant is set to begin production next year.
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. ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company are amongst those who are riding this trend, the Financial Times reports. Shell’s Blue Horizons low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia project entered its pre front-end engineering design (FEED) phase this year in July, while the first phase of Aramco’s Accelerated Carbon Capture and Sequestration project, which it plans to use for blue hydrogen production, completed its FEED scope a month earlier.
Uh, Enterprise, what is blue ammonia? Blue ammonia is produced by combining nitrogen and hydrogen through a low-carbon process using captured carbon dioxide, according to The National. Because the process is coupled with carbon capture, blue ammonia reduces emissions by over 90%, according to Wood.
Background: Nassef Sawiris — who owns a 38.8% stake in the firm — said he was considering overhauling OCI GlobaI in February, including potentially turning the empire into a cash-shell company pursuing acquisitions in new industries.
