A WEEK after announcing it has the necessary gas for its Project Haber low-carbon local urea fertiliser production, Strike Energy Ltd has appointed engineers and sought environmental approvals for the project.
French global engineering and technologies company, Technip Energies NL (TEN), which boasts of its "energy transition" capabilities on its website, has been awarded the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for Project Haber, north west of Three Springs, Strike told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) last week.
Strike said TEN was chosen after a competitive tender process because it was the global leader in engineering and design of ammonia and urea facilities and has worked extensively with Strike's selected key technology providers.
Those providers are Danish company Topsoe (autothermal reforming and ammonia synthesis), Italian company Saipem (urea synthesis) - Saipem is also one half of an engineering joint venture selected by Perdaman Industries for the proposed development of a urea production plant on the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha using gas from Woodside's Scarborough project - and German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp (urea granulation).
Along with TEN, those specialist technologies providers have been chosen "as they facilitate the highest degree of energy efficiency and lowest carbon emissions possible for urea production", Strike told the ASX.
Recently TEN was chosen to provide FEED for the Lang Lebah Onshore Gas Plant 2 project in Sarawak, Malaysia, which involves capturing released carbon dioxide, pumping it through a pipeline back to the offshore well head and 'reinjecting' it underground.
Strike said TEN had designed and constructed "several reference plants of similar capacity" to Project Haber and was expected to complete FEED works within an estimated nine to 10 months from commencement.
Strike and TEN have "executed a project establishment call off order", it said, to begin preparing for a formal start to the FEED process, which is expected in the coming quarter, once key technology licensing agreements and "predevelopment financing" are in place.
It also said it has appointed Wood PLC, part of the Scottish John Wood Group, as its own engineer for Project Haber.
Wood will provide technical and engineering oversight for the duration of the project and monitor and assess work in progress to ensure engineering, procurement and construction contractors deliver "work consistent with the project's requirements", Strike said.
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It said it had also submitted an environmental referral for Project Haber to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
It said it expected environmental approvals to take the longest lead time "in preparing Project Haber for financial close prior to a construction commitment".
"Todays' announcement marks the conclusion of months of work and the start of an exciting period for Strike's flagship low carbon fertiliser development known as Project Haber," said Strike chief executive officer and managing director Stuart Nicholls.
"The design of this state-of-the-art facility will enable Australia to take control of its own supply of urea fertiliser in partnership with reducing its primary agricultural emissions.
"Project Haber stands to be a centrepiece of Australia's energy transition where technology, resources and renewable energy come together," Mr Nicholls said.
As reported in Farm Weekly, Strike last week announced independent consultants had verified its estimate of 399 petajoules of proven and probable natural gas supplies available at its South Erregulla (SE1) well, sufficient to produce the 1.4 million tonnes of urea fertiliser a year.
It expects to sell about 40pc of that production into the surrounding Wheatbelt and export the remaining 60pc via Geraldton port to the Eastern States and South East Asia.
The urea production plant will be sited adjacent to the SE1 well, directly above the South Erregulla gas field - commercial ammonia and urea are made from natural gas - as part of a proposed 3500 hectare Mid West Low Carbon Manufacturing Precinct it proposes to codevelop with partners.
It has signed a $13.5m agreement with owners to purchase the farmland site which it proposes will ultimately house solar and winds farms to provide power for Project Haber and other manufacturing there, a research farm to conduct tests of its urea and other agricultural inputs and a reafforestation carbon sequestration plantation.
With efficient low-carbon production processes powered by renewable energy, Strike claims it can produce fertiliser estimated to be 50-60pc less carbon intensive than the nitrogenous fertilisers currently imported and used across Australian broadacre farms.
