Dutch producer and distributor of hydrogen-based products OCI Global and U.S. energy company New Fortress Energy (NFE) have signed an agreement for OCI to offtake green hydrogen from NFE’s ZeroParks beginning in 2025, following a competitive bidding process.
OCI said that green hydrogen will be produced by ZeroParks using proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology and delivered to OCI’s facilities in Beaumont, Texas, U.S., where it will then be converted into green ammonia. According to OCI, this agreement will allow the company to scale up its green ammonia production capacity in Beaumont.
NFE’s green hydrogen project, ZeroPark I, is expected to come online in two phases: the first phase in 2025, allowing OCI to produce approximately 80,000 tons per year of green ammonia, and the second in 2026, doubling OCI’s production capacity to 160,000 tons per year.
OCI produced its first tons of hydrogen-based green ammonia earlier this year at its Egypt Green facility, owned by Fertiglobe, a strategic partnership between OCI Global and ADNOC.
The company acknowledged the importance of scaling its global green hydrogen-based production to meet the coming demand from emerging applications, including as shipping fuel and for power generation, and to decarbonize existing end-markets, including the agricultural and industrial space. To note, green hydrogen can also be used to produce green methanol, the emerging fuel choice for the decarbonization of shipping and road fuels.
By leveraging its existing infrastructure, OCI said it can scale production to meet growing demand at pace and without significant capital expenditure, while leveraging the incentives offered under the Inflation Reduction Act’s 45V program.
Nassef Sawiris, Executive Chair, OCI Global, commented: “Today’s announcement cements OCI’s continued focus on the energy transition and hydrogen fuels, representing another milestone in our decarbonization journey as a business. Ammonia and methanol are the logical hydrogen carriers to drive this transition and the coming demand from the transportation sector provides the foundation for our scale-up in production and new technologies.”
“NFE is an established energy player and developer, and we are excited to start this partnership with them at our Beaumont complex, which is ideally located in the center of the Gulf Coast, allowing us to continue to increase and optimize our over-the-fence feedstock portfolio.”
Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO, New Fortress Energy, stated: “Today’s announcement showcases our focus on developing green hydrogen projects of scale to successfully decarbonize hard-to-abate corners of the global economy such as agriculture, power and marine fuels.”
To remind, this week, OCI Global also revealed plans to double its green methanol production capacity to approximately 400,000 metric tons per year in response to the growing demand for green methanol. The company said the scale-up plans include entering into supply agreements for renewable natural gas (RNG) exceeding 15,000 mmbtu per day as well as securing the waste and development rights from the City of Beaumont. OCI currently has the capacity to produce up to 200,000 metric tons of green methanol.