Australian oil and gas giant Woodside has agreed to acquire OCI Clean Ammonia Holding B.V. and its lower carbon ammonia project in Texas for AUD$3.61 million.
The project is under construction and targets production of first ammonia from 2025 and lower carbon ammonia from 2026.
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Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said, “This transaction positions Woodside in the growing lower carbon ammonia market. The potential applications for lower carbon ammonia are in power generation, marine fuels and as an industrial feedstock, as it displaces higher-emitting fuels.
“This acquisition is a material step towards delivering our Scope 3 investment and abatement targets. Phase 1 has the capacity to abate 1.6Mtpa of CO2-e and with the addition of Phase 2 the Project has the capacity to abate 3.2Mtpa CO2-e, or over 60% of our Scope 3 abatement target.”
News of the acquisition comes after the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) rejected Woodside’s proposed Browse Gas project—Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas field located off the coast of the pristine Kimberley region in Western Australia.
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The EPA found Woodside’s proposal had unacceptable potential impacts on endangered Pygmy Blue Whales, the threat to endangered Green Turtles and the risk of pollution and oil spills at the highly biodiverse and fragile Scott Reef.
Only two other oil and gas proposals have been recommended against by the Western Australian EPA since the mid-1980s.
