Woodside Energy, together with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Hokuriku Electric Power Company and the Kansai Electric Power Co, have signed a joint agreement to establish a clean fuel ammonia supply chain between Australia and Japan.

The signatories have agreed to study the entire supply chain, including the production of clean fuel ammonia in Australia from natural gas with CO2 abatement methods; marine transportation to Japan; utilisation of ammonia as a fuel for power generation and marine use; and financing.

The agreement follows the revision on June 21 of Japan’s Green Growth Strategy which sees ammonia fuel as one of the components in the country’s drive to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

The supply chain study also forms part of the strategy outlined in the recent Australia-Japan Ministerial Economic Dialogue. The ministerial statement said that the two nations have determined to make low and zero emissions technologies that will underpin decarbonisation strategies to make them globally scalable and commercially viable, through collaboration on technology research and development, in order to rapidly accelerate global emissions reduction and reach net zero emissions.