Horisont Energi and Fertiberia firm up Barents Blue partnership

Norwegian clean energy company Horisont Energi has signed a joint development agreement with Spanish ammonia producer Fertiberia as the new partner in its clean ammonia project Barents Blue, thus strengthening the partnership formed by the two companies earlier this year.

According to Horisont Energi, the joint development agreement builds on the cooperation agreement signed by the two parties on 1 February 2023 when Equinor and Vår Energi, which joined the project in 2021, decided to withdraw from the project.

Through the 50/50 joint development agreement, Horisont Energi and Fertiberia have formed a partnership for Barents Blue, which in the initial phase aims to take the project to a first DEVEX (development expenditure) decision.

Afterwards, the plan is to move the project through next decision stages, including detailed engineering phase (DG2) and the final investment decision (FID).

The principle for the JDA and the work going forward is based on the joint use of internal resources and shared external costs towards the realisation of the project, Horisont Energi explained.

Once in operation, the Barents Blue project, located in Finnmark in Northern Norway, is expected to become Europe’s largest clean ammonia production plant. The project targets deliveries to the European ammonia market and is supported by a grant of NOK 482 million (around $47.8 million) under the EU IPCEI hydrogen program, Hy2Use.

Once the first construction stage is operational, Barents Blue is planned to produce 1 million tonnes of clean ammonia annually.

The Barents Blue concept is to make ammonia from natural gas from the Barents Sea, capture the CO2 and store it under the seabed.

The Polaris CO2 storage under the Barents Sea was selected as the CO2 storage solution for the Barents Blue project. Horisont Energi continues the work to establish a new licence group with a new operator for the Polaris carbon storage licence.

The company noted that bringing Fertiberia as a partner in the Barents Blue project is an important step towards realising the project along with the recent approval for power supply for the first Barents Blue ammonia production train from Statnett. Securing gas supply from Melkøya is a third key element and critical success factor for the project, and Horisont Energi and Fertiberia are engaging with potential gas sellers, the company said.

Furthermore, going forward the Barents Blue project will focus on getting clarity on the development of Norwegian and European schemes supporting specifically blue ammonia and hydrogen projects.