The Beaumont New Ammonia plant will be able to produce up to 1.1 million tonnes of blue ammonia per year in its first phase, targeting European and Asian offtakers in agriculture, power generation, and marine fuel sectors.

The facility, built by OCI and Linde, uses autothermal reforming technology to split natural gas into carbon dioxide and hydrogen for synthesis with nitrogen.

Currently, its production is unabated. However, OCI and Linde target bringing CCS technology online in the second half of 2026 to reduce the plant’s emissions by up to 95%.

Capture CO2 will be fed into ExxonMobil’s CCS network.

OCI will continue to manage the commissioning and start-up of the facility until the project is fully staffed and operational, at which point it will hand over to Woodside, after selling the project to the Australian oil and gas firm for $2.35bn.

Along the US Gulf Coast, various blue ammonia plants are under or nearing construction, with offtakers lined up across Europe and Asia.

Due to the region’s access to low-cost natural gas and geologic suitability for CCS, proponents claim the area can produce some of the lowest-cost blue hydrogen.

The US also offers tax credits of up to $85 per tonne of CO2 captured and stored or used in industry.