(Wilhelmshaven / Celle) – The mineral oil and gas company Wintershall Dea AG and the oil pipeline operator Nord-West Oelleitung GmbH (NWO) want to jointly build a plant to produce low-carbon hydrogen from Norwegian natural gas. The companies have now signed a corresponding declaration of intent. The location of the project called “BlueHyNow” is the NWO site in Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony.
Hydrogen via pipeline to customers
According to the information, the existing infrastructure should be “converted to suitability for hydrogen”. Wintershall Dea wants to transport the energy source to industrial customers via a partially unused NWO pipeline infrastructure.
The annual production capacity is estimated at 5,6 terawatt hours. The CO2 produced during production is captured and shipped to Norway and Denmark. There it should be “permanently stored in deep geological rock layers beneath the seabed”. In addition to hydrogen from renewable energies, hydrogen from natural gas is also needed to guarantee energy security in Germany, says Hugo Dijkgraaf, board member and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Wintershall Dea, explaining the plans.
A feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of the year. According to media reports, hydrogen could be produced by the end of 2028. The companies did not provide any information about the amount of investments. BlueHyNow is part of the energy hub that is currently being built in Wilhelmshaven.
Wintershall Dea emerged in 2019 from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG. The company is registered in Celle, Lower Saxony. The headquarters are in Kassel and Hamburg. The company employs around 2.500 people.
NWO GmbH was founded in 1956 and supplies refineries as far as Cologne via a long-distance pipeline network. The shareholders are Ruhr Oel GmbH (33,69 percent), BP Europe SE (25,64 percent), Shell Deutschland GmbH (20,40 percent) and Holborn Europe Raffinerie (20,27 percent).
Photos
NWO mineral oil tank farm and tanker fire bridge in Wilhelmshaven. © Nord-West Oelleitung GmbH
