MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract to Technip Energies for a blue hydrogen project at its complex in Baytown, Texas, said the company.
ExxonMobil described the contract as the largest of its kind in the world. The company could make a final investment decision (FID) on the project in 2024. If ExxonMobil proceeds, it could start operations in 2027-2028. Financial details were not disclosed.
Under the project, ExxonMobil would produce 1bn cubic feet/day of blue hydrogen and capture more than 98% of the associated carbon dioxide (CO2). That amounts to more than 7m tonnes/year of CO2 that ExxonMobil would capture and permanently store.
ExxonMobil would make the carbon-capture and storage network available to other companies that want to sequester the CO2 produced from their operations. As far as the hydrogen, ExxonMobil could sell it or use it internally as a fuel for its largest cracker in Baytown.
If the cracker uses hydrogen as a fuel instead of natural gas, it could reduce Baytown's Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by up to 30%, the company said. ExxonMobil could also sell what it described as significant volumes of blue hydrogen and ammonia. Such offtake agreements are under discussion with customers. ExxonMobil did not provide capacity figures for the ammonia.
We remind, ExxonMobil announced its majority-owned affiliate, Imperial Oil Ltd, will invest about USD560 million to move forward with construction of the largest renewable diesel facility in Canada. The project at Imperial’s Strathcona refinery is expected to produce 20,000 barrels of renewable diesel per day primarily from locally sourced feedstocks and could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Canadian transportation sector by about 3 million metric tons per year, as determined in accordance with Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulation. The facility is a part of the corporation’s plans through 2027 to invest approximately USD17 billion in lower-emission initiatives.
mrchub.com