(Irving, Texas / USA) – The plans of the US oil and gas multinational Exxon Mobil Corp. for the production of hydrogen are continuing to take shape: The company says it wants to build the “world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production plant” in the USA. This is expected to produce around 28 million cubic meters of the gas per day.
The result is blue hydrogen, because “low-carbon” in this case means converting the energy source natural gas into the energy source hydrogen. According to Exxon, more than 98 percent of the CO2 produced in the production process is captured - around seven million tons per year - and stored permanently using “Carbon Capture and Storage” technology (CCS).
Europeans develop US hydrogen plant
The petrochemical group has now awarded the contract for the next phase of planning and front-end engineering (FEED) to Technip Energies NV. The technology company, headquartered in Amsterdam and Paris, operates in the areas of liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen and ethylene with around 15.000 employees in 34 countries.
The construction was announced in March 2022. A final investment decision for the project is expected by 2024 and commissioning in 2027/2028 – “subject to stakeholder support, regulatory approvals and market conditions,” it said in a statement.
The location named is Exxon Mobil's chemical complex in Baytown near Houston in Texas, an hour's flight from the company's Irving headquarters. “This project makes it possible to offer significant volumes of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia to our customers,” said Dan Ammann, president of Exxon Mobil Low Carbon Solutions. Additionally, the project is expected to result in up to a 30 percent reduction in emissions at the Baytown refinery “by switching from natural gas as a fuel source to low-carbon hydrogen.”
$55 billion annual profit for 2022
According to its balance sheet published on January 31, Exxon Mobil Corporation posted a profit of $2022 billion (55,7 billion euros) in 51,3. This has more than doubled compared to the previous year (23 billion dollars). In the fourth quarter of 2022 alone it was 12,8 billion dollars (11,8 billion euros), an increase of 3,8 billion dollars compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Photos
Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas. © Exxon Mobil Corp.
