Horisont Selects Saipem & Technip Energies for Concept Studies

Horisont Energi has selected Saipem S.p.A. (Saipem) and Technip Energies B.V. (Technip Energies) for two independent concept studies for the full conceptual design of the Barents Blue carbon-neutral ammonia plant in Hammerfest, northern Norway. The studies will be key for future decisions to realize the Barents Blue project.

– By engaging Saipem and Technip Energies, two leading global EPC contractors of large-scale international industry projects, we aim to find the most innovative solutions and fully develop the modularized- and winterized process and utilities design. This will provide us with a solid basis for the decision to move into FEED and into realization of the Barents Blue project, says Bjorgulf Haukelidsæter Eidesen, CEO of Horisont Energi.

The two EPC contractors have several decades of ammonia plant development and construction experience and provides the project with the highest level of quality that the market can provide.

– Together with Haldor Topsoe as ammonia technology licensor, we have set ourselves up with the best, says Eidesen.

The two competitive concept studies, both starting now and to be completed in November 2021, will display the design of Europe’s first large-scale blue ammonia plant building upon Haldor Topsoe’s SynCOR AmmoniaTM technology with above 99 percent overall carbon capture.

In the two concept studies, Saipem and Technip Energies will fully develop the novel process design that Haldor Topsoe and Horisont Energi have been developing since May 2020 and now completing in the previously performed Topsoe White Book processing design study, including the respective modules, utility systems and equipment needed to realize the full-sized plant. The concept studies will be performed in close collaboration with Multiconsult ASA, which is responsible for the site-preparation, construction and infrastructure work.

– The Haldor Topsoe syngas and ammonia technology is well known to both Saipem and Technip Energies, which have previously built several ammonia plants with this technology. We are really looking forward to the completion of the studies, as they will constitute a central element in the decision-making process for the design and realization of the ammonia plant, says Eidesen.

Barents Blue will be Europe’s first large-scale factory for the production of so-called “blue” ammonia from natural gas, which means that CO2 is captured during the production process and stored. The storage will be done by transporting all CO2 offshore where it is injected into a large geological reservoir under the seabed.

The proposed plant will offer a climate-friendly market outlet for a significant part of the natural gas from the Barents Sea. Ammonia has numerous industrial applications, including in fertilizer production, and is currently the world’s second-most used industrial gas, with an established infrastructure for shipping throughout the globe. In the future, ammonia is also expected be used as a climate-neutral fuel, especially in the maritime industry and for climate-neutral power production.

The construction work of the Barents Blue project is planned to take place from 2023 to 2025 and the plant is expected to be in operation in 2025.

– I am pleased that we are maintaining the momentum in this groundbreaking project, and are accelerating the transition we all want. This truly demonstrates the get-it-done attitude that lives in the Horisont Energi team, Eidesen finishes.