Provaris Energy, Norwegian Hydrogen and Uniper have made progress

Provaris Energy, Norwegian Hydrogen and Uniper have made progress

The letter of intent from last year has now been followed up by a "Term Sheet" agreement. This is good news for European industry, which depends on large quantities of hydrogen from the Nordic region.

Oyvind Paulsen

As early as 2023, it was announced that  Norwegian Hydrogen and Provaris would collaborate to export hydrogen from Norway to Europe , and in August 2024 it was confirmed that the giant Uniper would also join the game.

And the three parties have clearly found the right tone.

Now they have signed a "Term Sheet" agreement, in which they agree on the terms and conditions for a final sales and purchase agreement (SPA).

Highlights to note

• Provaris, Uniper and Norwegian Hydrogen have thus agreed on the main terms for hydrogen supply,
  transport and withdrawal from the Nordic region to selected ports in Europe.
• The goal is now to enter into a binding conditional agreement during June 2025. If all permits are in place, the final agreement will be signed in December.
• In short, it is about delivering an annual volume of 42,500 tons of compressed hydrogen using Provari's hydrogen cargo ship ( H2Leo ). The hydrogen will be produced by Norwegian Hydrogen and will be RFNBO certified.
• Uniper Global Commodities SE will be the buyer of hydrogen at an agreed fixed price and will be responsible for the receiving terminal in Northwest Europe where the hydrogen will be delivered.
• Delivery is scheduled to begin in early 2029, and it is worth noting that there is talk of a delivery agreement for a minimum of 10 years.

This makes this Europe's first regional project for large-scale hydrogen transport.

A significant milestone

The fact that the letter of intent now appears to be bearing fruit naturally makes the parties very pleased.

“We are very pleased to have entered into the Term Sheet agreement,” says Martin Carolan - CEO of Provaris Energy. “This represents an important milestone for Provaris and brings  regional bulk supply chains in Europe closer to being built using Provaris H2Neo,” he says in the message we have received.

Norwegian Hydrogen & Uniper is also satisfied:

– We are very excited about this tripartite collaboration, and it is rewarding for all three parties to see that our efforts are now developing into increasingly concrete ones, says Berge.

“We believe that Provari's innovative transport concept is a good solution that connects commercially interesting hydrogen supply points with our core markets. We therefore look forward to continuing this collaboration,” agrees Benedikt Messner from Uniper Global Commodities.

Compressed hydrogen becomes crucial

According to the three parties, customers want compressed hydrogen, not a derivative. They believe that using Provaris' transportation and bunkering solutions will provide an efficient and cost-effective supply chain to the European market.

While storage and transportation will be carried out by Provaris Energy, as mentioned, Norwegian Hydrogen will be responsible for the actual production.

Work is therefore continuing to find preferred production sites in the Nordic region, including Norway and Finland, and as previously mentioned, this includes the FjordH2 project in the Ålesund region.

Floating bunker solution

Based on the hydrogen volume and shipping distance, Provaris will use its liquid bunkering solution called H2Leo at the production facility.

It has a stated capacity of 450 tons of compressed hydrogen at 250 barg pressure. They will also use two H2Neo - that is, two large cargo ships for compressed hydrogen.

Provaris therefore continues to develop both H2Neo and H2Leo, aiming for final approval by the first half of 2025.

Uniper's role

As we have previously reported, Uniper will be responsible for developing the import terminal, and together with Provaris will find out how they can best connect this with the European hydrogen pipeline network.

Although the parties now aim to sign a binding SPA (Hydrogen sale and purchase agreement) during June 2025, they will still be dependent on obtaining all necessary approvals in place to move forward.

The goal is therefore for the final SPA agreement to be signed in December 2025.

Source: Provaris Energy

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