POSCO and ADNOC forge clean hydrogen ties

South Korean POSCO Holdings, its subsidiary POSCO International and UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have signed a strategic cooperation agreement (SCA) for a joint investigation of clean hydrogen production business.

According to the agreement, the three parties will jointly propel the production and supply of hydrogen using LNG and the CCS business, which captures and stores carbon emitted during hydrogen production.

POSCO revealed the company will establish a production infrastructure for hydrogen at its Gwangyang LNG terminal, adding that starting in 2029, produced hydrogen will be supplied to sources of demand like Gwangyang Steelworks or other nearby locations such as Hadong and Yeosu.

POSCO further said it is planning to bring the CCS business into the picture because the process of reducing carbon emission by capturing incidental carbon during hydrogen production is essential for hydrogen to be considered clean hydrogen.

Starting this year, the three companies plan to conduct a joint investigation for project feasibility, looking into the establishment of clean hydrogen production facilities, carbon dioxide capture and liquefaction terminal.

Previously commenting on hydrogen and Gwangyang LNG terminal, Lee Jun-Hyuk, Head of Energy Division at POSCO International, said that Gwangyang is the core location of POSCO where the group has an LNG terminal that will serve as the clean hydrogen production infrastructure in the future, adding that the aim is to contribute to the development of Korea’s hydrogen business.

As for POSCO’s other ventures, in 2023, the company announced that, together with U.S. CF Industries Holdings, it is evaluating a joint venture to construct a low-carbon clean ammonia plant at CF Industries’ Blue Point Complex in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, along with a long-term low-carbon clean ammonia offtake into South Korea.

Should the project move forward, POSCO expects to import low-carbon clean ammonia from the facility to South Korea to support the decarbonization of its own and third-party coal-based power generation facilities, and it intends to convert low-carbon clean ammonia into hydrogen in order to use low-carbon hydrogen in gas-based power plants and in the steelmaking process itself.