LNG

Japan’s JERA has launched a vertically integrated unit – JERA Global Energy Solutions – to consolidate and optimise its LNG portfolio across upstream, LNG, lower-carbon fuels, and shipping. The new entity will work closely with JERA’s LNG trading platform JERA Global Market to coordinate physical supply with trading strategies.

A worsening LNG and fuel supply crunch is hitting Asian economies, pushing up electricity prices, shipping and airfare costs. The United Nations Development Programme estimates that Middle East‑related disruptions could inflicting about $299 billion in economic losses on the Asia‑Pacific region, with around 8.8 million people are at risk of being pushed into poverty.

“The ships are ready, the fuels are missing,” Acceleron Industries summarizes the state of decarbonizing maritime transport. Investment is lagging as LNG offers higher returns than green hydrogen or ammonia.

Verso Energy has reserved a site for a new plant to produce hydrogen (H2) and biogenic synthetic fuels at the Port of Oulu, in northern Finland. Similar production sites exist in various parts of France, and Verso's synfuels production process combines green H2 with carbon dixoide (CO2) recovered from nearby paper and pulp mills.

Electricity in Finland is among the cheapest in Europe: In the first half of 2024, the price of electricity for non-household customers in Finland was the lowest in the European Union at just €0.0939  per kilowatt-hour (€/kWh), given that most of it is derived from hydropower plants.

Using this electricity to produce H2 and related biogenic synfuels is becoming a lucrative business, not least because offtaker are situated very close to northern Finland - just a short shipping distance away across the Baltic Sea in Germany, Poland and Denmark, as well as in the Netherlands and the UK.

Cheap electricity, large talent pool

Asked why Verso chose Oulo as a location for its latest hydrogen plant, CEO Antoine Huard said "the region around the Finish port town is attractive because it provides an abundance of affordable renewable energy and biogenic carbon dioxide.”

In addition, experienced chemical researchers at Oulo University alongside large R&D investments in the area, ensure a “sufficient talent pool,” the Verso CEO said, and this offers the French company potential customers and subcontractors.

And last but not least, the Port of Oulu, with its rail and road links, provides good connections to the rest of the world.

H2-derivative projects already set up

Several other hydrogen production and H2 derivative projects have already been initiated in the greater Oulu region: Gasgrid Finland is planning to establish a hydrogen transport infrastructure to connect Oulu’s hydrogen production with the rest of Finland and other countries in northern Europe.

Verso Energy is hence keen to get its project off the ground, though Mr Huard cautioned the latest “land reservation is only a preliminary decision,” – a final investment decision (FID) will be taken at a later stage.