The annual volumes are equivalent to one-third of German industrial demand. The 5-year option is for a total of 319 TWh (around 29 bcm) over the period. After the Troll gas sales agreement in 1986, this is one of the largest gas sales agreements Equinor has entered into as a company.
The companies also signed a non-binding letter of intent (LoI) with the intention that SEFE will become a long-term off-taker of giga-scale, low-carbon hydrogen supplies from Equinor starting in 2029 and continuing towards 2060.
This is a response to Europe’s need for long-term, reliable supply of energy and a viable route to decarbonization at scale.
—Equinor’s CEO Anders Opedal
By signing the agreements for gas and hydrogen supply, we have teamed up with a strong European supplier that brings us a big step closer to our common goal of decarbonizing the energy sector while at the same time providing energy security. The procurement of natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf ensures the sustainable and future-proof supply for European and, in particular, German customers in the household and industrial sectors.
SEFE and Equinor share ambitious goals to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy. This includes joint business opportunities related to transport and storage of hydrogen for the future. SEFE Group’s storage company Astora could be a key building block in this.
—Dr Egbert Laege, CEO of SEFE
A key element in the potential collaboration on hydrogen is that SEFE could be a long-term off-taker of low-carbon hydrogen from projects that Equinor is planning on the continent and in Norway.
The clear ambition is to supply low-carbon hydrogen to SEFE at industrial scale, starting from 5 TWh per year from 2029 and ramping stepwise up to 40 TWh per year from 2050 towards 2060.
The gas will be delivered to Trading Hub Europe (THE) in Germany, Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands and at the National Balancing Point (NBP) in the UK.
