Under the oil and gas giant’s plans, green ammonia will be delivered to Wilhelmshaven from bp’s international green hydrogen projects, where a cracker will extract hydrogen from ammonia.

H2 View understands, the project is expected to build on existing infrastructure at the NWO terminal in Wilhelmshaven, which bp is already involved in. Additionally, the company has proposed using existing idle oil pipelines and converting existing gas pipeline infrastructure to transport hydrogen.

Hydrogen imported through the bp project could kick off in 2028, with plans for it to be transported to customers in the Ruhr area, as well as other demand centres.

“The development of this project would give our German customers greater self-sufficiency in a range of low-carbon energy products,” said Patrick Wendeler, CEO of bp Europa SE. “We hope that our hydrogen project will help open the next chapter and help Germany achieve its climate goals.”

The Wilhelmshaven project comes as the latest in bp’s German hydrogen developments. In 2020 it revealed it had partnered with Ørsted to build a 50MW electrolyser and associated infrastructure at its Lingen Refinery.

Read more: bp, Ørsted partner on green hydrogen production in Germany

Felipe Arbelaez, Senior Vice-President Hydrogen and CCS at bp, said the import project would complement bp’s global hydrogen project portfolio, saying its developments in the Middle East, Africa, and Australia could cover part of European hydrogen demand.

“This is another important step to produce and deliver low-carbon hydrogen to customers around the world,” said Arbelaez.

In December 2022, bp signed an agreement with the Government of Egypt to explore the potential of establishing a green hydrogen production facility in the country.

Read more: bp signs agreement with Egyptian Government to explore green hydrogen production

Backing the Wilhelmshaven plans, Christian Meyer, Environment Minister of the State of Lower Saxony, commented, “In order to remain competitive and resilient as an industrial location in the long term, we must ensure an affordable, climate-neutral and secure energy supply.

“To do this, it is important that we diversify our supply sources and create fewer dependencies. The new bp hydrogen centre in Wilhelmshaven can play an important role here.”

The Port of Wilhelmshaven has been at the centre of hydrogen developments by Tree Energy Solutions (TES). With plans of establishing up to 1GW of green hydrogen production capacity at the site, it also signed an agreement with Uniper and NPorts to plan a new import terminal for green gases, including hydrogen.

Read more: Uniper, TES, NPorts to cooperate on green gas terminal at Wilhelmshaven