Enbridge Inc., Calgary, and Humble Midstream LLC, Denver, an EnCap Flatrock Midstream portfolio company, on May 6 announced the joint development and marketing of a blue hydrogen and ammonia production and export facility, which will be located at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC), near Corpus Christi, Texas.
“The plant will be a world-class facility, which typically means capacity exceeding 1 million mt/y ammonia,” Humble Midstream CEO Steven Huckaby told Green Markets. “We are still in negotiations with several potential ammonia customers, so we haven’t nailed down an exact capacity yet. Interest is very high, and we expect to easily exceed the 1 million mt/y size. We anticipate building the hydrogen section 20-25% bigger than needed for ammonia production to supply hydrogen to the regional market.”
Enbridge and Humble intend to jointly market the capacity of the facility. The construction of any facilities will be subject to sufficient customer support and receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.
If built, the facility would cost roughly $2.5-$3 billion and could come online as early as 2026.
“This is a good example of how Enbridge is leveraging existing conventional energy assets and capabilities to extend growth and capitalize on low carbon opportunities in the energy transition,” said Colin Gruending, Enbridge Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines. “The EIEC is already the premier export facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast and will play an even greater role in global energy security and sustainability. We’re excited to work with Humble to further develop this opportunity.”
Enbridge paid $3 billion for the EIEC in 2021, providing it with a 100% operating interest and related pipeline and logistics infrastructure, along with a 20% interest in the 670,000 barrel-per-day Cactus II Pipeline.
“Humble is pleased to be joining Enbridge in this first-mover effort to develop clean energy alternatives on a world-class scale,” added Huckaby. “We believe the midstream expertise of both companies positions us well to provide affordable hydrogen and ammonia to a marketplace seeking low carbon alternative fuels. Our team is glad to be partnered with EnCap Flatrock Midstream to pursue this opportunity, a natural extension of their longstanding midstream strategy.”
Huckaby noted that the EIEC site was a former naval base commissioned during the Clinton administration and closed during the Obama administration. “Given the late vintage of those facilities, the grounds are well suited to a quick repurposing to ammonia and hydrogen production, and much had been done by Enbridge for their crude oil export business,” he said.
He said the two companies will be working to reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of both the feedstock and the utilities required to produce hydrogen and ammonia and expect that the result will be one of the lowest carbon footprints on the Gulf Coast. Initial discussions with many of the stakeholders in the area have been very productive and supportive of this development, he added.
The parties said up to 95% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated in the production process will be sequestered in newly developed carbon capture infrastructure, including facilities to be owned and operated by Enbridge, making this a fully integrated low-carbon solution. Enbridge’s affiliate, Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline, is expected to provide the transportation service for feed gas that will be used for the production process. Both hydrogen and ammonia have zero CO2 emissions at the point of use.
Huckaby said the parties are several weeks away from determining the technology vendor for the project, but the efficiency in carbon capture being designed does shrink the field a bit.
Enbridge is a North American energy infrastructure company, with core businesses in oil and natural gas pipelines, distribution, and storage, as well as renewable power generation.
Humble was formed in 2020 with an initial $300 million equity commitment from EnCap Flatrock Midstream, San Antonio, which provides value-added growth capital to proven management teams focused on midstream infrastructure opportunities across North America. The firm manages investment commitments of nearly $9 billion from a broad group of institutional investors.