US supermajor ExxonMobil and Singapore’s Keppel teaming up to develop low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia for scalable commercial and industrial applications in the city state.

In addition to being a hydrogen carrier and storage medium, ammonia can be used directly as a carbon-free fuel or broken down into carbon-free hydrogen for power generation, as well as feedstock for refinery and petrochemical operations.

The memorandum of understanding between ExxonMobil Asia Pacific and Keppel Infrastructure follows the Singapore government’s launch last October of its National Hydrogen Strategy, which expects hydrogen to meet up to half of Singapore’s power needs by 2050.

As part of this hydrogen strategy, the Energy Market Authority and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore issued an expression of interest in December for proposals to build, own and operate low or zero-carbon power generation and bunkering facilities on Singapore’s Jurong Island.

Natural gas today meets the lion’s share of the nation’s power generation demand. The Keppel-ExxonMobil collaboration has been formed to address the call to develop competitive solutions that can support Jurong Island’s sustainability goals and Singapore’s hydrogen strategy.

Keppel is also looking to use low-carbon hydrogen for Singapore’s first hydrogen-ready 600-megawatt combined-cycle power plant.

The Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant is expected to operate with at least 30% hydrogen and will be capable of shifting to run entirely on hydrogen. Currently under construction, the power plant on Jurong Island is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.

“ExxonMobil is pleased to work with Keppel to evaluate low-carbon solutions as part of our goal to reduce our emissions and help others reduce theirs,” said ExxonMobil’s Asia Pacific president for low carbon solutions, Irtiza Sayyed.

“This is an example of how we can provide critical, scalable solutions to reduce CO₂ emissions in support of our company’s and Singapore’s net-zero ambitions.”

Meanwhile, given the strong demand for low-carbon electricity in Singapore, Keppel is performing a feasibility study into developing a power plant that could use ammonia directly as a fuel.

ExxonMobil is advancing its world-scale low-carbon hydrogen facility at its integrated complex in Baytown, Texas in the US, where ammonia will be produced.

This project that integrates carbon capture is expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of low-carbon hydrogen per day and s targeting start-up in 2027-2028. More than 98% of the associated CO₂ produced by the facility, or around 7 million tonnes per annum, is expected to be captured and permanently stored.

“Deep decarbonisation of power generation and major industries is a key impetus for countries seeking pathways to net zero emissions,” commented Cindy Lim, Keppel Infrastructure chief executive.

“Globally, clean hydrogen is one of the most effective decarbonisation strategies, especially for hard-to-abate sectors, like maritime and petrochemical.”