Oslo — Saga Pure ASA (Saga, OSE: SAGA) has committed to subscribe for NOK 35 million in a private placement of new shares (the “Private Placement”) in Horisont Energi AS (Horisont Energi). Following the Private Placement Saga will own 11.7% of the company.
“Ammonia production is currently the biggest consumer of hydrogen globally, and has massive associated CO2-emissions today. Even in a decarbonized world we will continue to need ammonia, both for fertilizer applications, but ammonia also has a significant potential as a zero-emission energy carrier – as long as it is produced from renewables or from natural gas with cost effective carbon capture and storage. Horisont Energi has developed an attractive value chain solution for production of blue ammonia as well as CO2 handling, and we see great potential for this company going forward,” says Bjørn Simonsen, CEO of Saga Pure.
Horisont Energi is a company based in Stavanger, Norway with an experienced team with background from the oil and gas sector and the energy supplier industry. The company will combine cutting-edge ammonia production technologies which enable effective CO2-capture along with a transport and storage solution which enables a significantly lower cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) than that of today’s available solutions. The first blue ammonia plant is planned to be established in Finnmark in the north of Norway in a partnership together with Equinor, and the company is already in dialogue with several other large international companies for further blue ammonia and CCS projects.
Horisont Energi will use the net proceeds from the Private Placement to build the organization and make preparatory work to reach a final investment decision for the first project in Northern Norway.
Horisont Energi has recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding together with Equinor for the development of a full scale, carbon neutral, “blue” ammonia production plant. An investment decision will depend upon sufficient profitability for the project.
The project is named “Barents Blue” and will be the first of its kind as a full-scale carbon neutral ammonia production plant. For this project it is the intention to place the production plant in Finnmark, which is the Northernmost county in Norway. As part of this production plant, additional carbon sequestration capacity is brought about on the Norwegian continental shelf. The offshore carbon storage facility has been given the name “Polaris” from the star “Stella polaris”, traditionally used in navigation. The development of the sequestration facilities is concurrent with that of the rest of the plant and its associated infrastructure.
Bjørgulf Haukelidsæther Eidesen, CEO said, “We in Horisont Energi are satisfied with our partnership with one of the strongest industrial operators in Norway on our journey towards an emission free hydrogen plant. Projects such as this are important in Norway’s transition to become a hydrogen society”
Ammonia is a hydrogen rich gas, which may be produced from natural gas and it is made “blue” through the carbon capture and storage of the CO2 originating from this process. As an energy carrier, ammonia has a potential to become an emission free fuel for the shipping industry. It is expected that the maturation work carried out during the MoU with Equinor will establish the feasibility of the project.
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