A nearly $1 billion Gulf Coast Ammonia plant to help manufacture fertilizers received final approval to begin construction this year in Texas City near Galveston, the companies said Wednesday.
Source: Houston Chronicle
The plant would produce 1.3 million tons of ammonia per year from nitrogen gas and hydrogen feedstock with an estimated completion date in 2023. The project would create more than 40 permanent jobs and about 1,000 temporary construction positions.
The project, which has faced opposition from environmentalists, the seafood industry and more, was developed by Miami-based Agrifos, but has now been acquired and jointly funded by the Connecticut-based private equity firm Starwood Energy Group and the German energy trading firm Mabanaft. The new backers are providing the influx of capital to commence construction.
“This new world-class facility will meet domestic and global demands for nitrogen-based fertilizers to improve crop production and yields to feed the world’s growing population, as well as specialty chemical production on the Texas Gulf Coast,” said Ken Koye, the new chief executive of Gulf Coast Ammonia.
Koye was previously a senior adviser at Mabanaft. The German firm is a subsidiary of the larger German energy group Marquard & Bahls, which also owns the company Oiltanking North America that will provide the marine and dock facilities for the ammonia project.
In conjunction with the ammonia project, Pennsylvania-based Air Products said Wednesday it has $500 million in combined new contracts to help service the facilities, including building a new hydrogen pipeline from Texas City to Baytown, connecting to the world’s largest hydrogen pipeline system that runs from the Houston Ship Channel to New Orleans.
Air Products also will build and operate in Texas City its largest-ever steam methane reformer to produce hydrogen, an air separation unit to supply nitrogen, and a steam turbine generator for the power and utilities.
Air Products said the contracts add up to its largest-ever investment in a U.S. project.
Using leading technologies, the companies pledge that Gulf Coast Ammonia will set a new bar in the safe and efficient production and storage of ammonia.
While the Texas shale boom is focused on oil and natural gas, many shale wells also produce supplies of nitrogen gas that help manufacture the ammonia. And the hydrogen comes from methane in the natural gas. The cheap supplies of natural gas and natural gas liquids have spurred a petrochemical boom across the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Houston to New Orleans.
