Japan’s power firm and LNG trader, Jera, is considering buying a stake in ExxonMobil’s proposed hydrogen and ammonia Baytown project in Texas.
Jera said on Monday it had reached a project framework agreement with the US energy giant to jointly explore the development of the hydrogen and ammonia production project.
Under the deal, the two firms will explore Jera’s ownership participation in the project and Jera’s procurement of about 500,000 tonnes annually of ammonia produced by the project for demand in Japan.
ExxonMobil is currently developing what it says would be the world’s largest hydrogen production plant at its Baytown refining and petrochemical complex east of Houston, Texas.
The plant is slated to have an annual production capacity of about 900,000 tonnes of hydrogen and annual production capacity of more than one million tonnes of ammonia.
Jera said the project aims to start production in 2028.
“Cooperation among leading companies is essential to establish supply chains for ammonia, hydrogen, and other products that are key to zero-emission thermal power,” said Steven Winn, Jera’s senior managing executive officer and chief global strategist.
“Building world-scale projects for new markets requires supply, demand, and supporting regulation to all come together in sync,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil low carbon solutions.
“We appreciate Jera’s leadership in helping advance the hydrogen economy and see this agreement as an important catalyst,” Ammann said.
Jera’s has been quite busy lately and it recently signed a binding deal with Australia’s LNG player Woodside to buy a 15.1 percent non-operating interest in the Scarborough JV for about $1.4 billion.
The joint venture of Tokyo Electric and Chubu Electric also signed a deal to charter a new LNG carrier form compatriot shipping firm NYK.