Norway’s Horisont Energi and oilfield services company Baker Hughes look set to work together on the Polaris carbon storage project off the northern coast of Norway, after signing a memorandum of understanding. Polaris is part of Horisont Energi’s larger Barrents Blue project, the aim of which is to produce carbon-neutral ‘blue’ ammonia for sale to the international market, ammonia increasingly being seen as an attractive low/zero carbon energy vector. Polaris is currently at the concept stage of development, but if it goes ahead is expected to begin construction in the second half of 2022, with a total storage capacity in excess of 100 million tons (90.7 million metric tonnes), twice that of Norway’s total annual emissions, according to the World Oil website. Interestingly, the two companies would be seeking to achieve carbon capture, transport and storage at the lowest global cost, approaching costs that would not need governmental subsidisation.

Horisont Energi is not the only company working on ‘blue’ ammonia production. Energy Live News reports that Mitsubishi Corporation is to work with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, Bandung Institute of Technology, a national university in the Republic of Indonesia and producer PT Panca Amara Utama to explore options of decarbonising ammonia production for use in coal-fired power plants.