Equinor, Vår leave Barents Blue ammonia project, new partner joins

(WO) – Equinor and Vår Energi have left the Barents Blue project as the cooperation agreement expired on Jan. 31. Operator Horisont Energi has announced Fertiberia as the ammonia project’s new partner.

Consequently, Equinor has also concluded to not take further part in the Polaris CO2 storage project.

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, and it has had the same partners as for the Barents Blue project.

Equinor remains positive to explore gas supply solutions from Hammerfest LNG to the Barents Blue project following the changes in the partnership.

Equinor has several hydrogen and CCS projects in different phases in Norway and in other markets. In Norway, the Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage project, part of the Longship project, is already under construction and on track to be ready to receive CO2 in 2024.

Recently, Equinor and RWE announced that the companies have agreed to work together to develop large-scale value chains for low carbon hydrogen, with a production facility in Norway and an export pipeline to Germany.

By 2030, Equinor has an ambition that 50 per cent of the company’s gross investments will be dedicated to renewables and low carbon solutions, such as CCS and hydrogen.