Navigator Gas and Attis Clean Energy invest in Ten08 Energy to produce clean ammonia on the US Gulf Coast for export
Navigator Holdings Ltd., the owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers, announced a co-investment alongside lead investor Attis Clean Energy in the clean ammonia developer Ten08 Energy LLC , previously announced on May 15, 2024.
Ten08 is developing an industrial-scale hybrid blue and green ammonia production export facility on the Gulf Coast of Texas with the goal of producing the most competitively priced ammonia molecule to help decarbonize the power, shipping, fertilizer, and chemicals industries. The first phase, comprising 1.4 million metric tonnes per year of ultra-low carbon ammonia production, is expected to commence operations in late 2029 / early 2030.
The $2.5 million commitment by Navigator complements the development capital from lead investor Attis who made its initial investment in May of this year and is partnering with Navigator to fund development until Final Investment Decision (“FID”). In return for its initial investment, Navigator received an option to make a larger investment at FID of up to $100 million of preferred equity towards construction of the terminal and export infrastructure of the Project, with potential further investments in subsequent expansions.
Navigator and Ten08 intend to offer an integrated service of US-based clean ammonia production combined with international seaborne transportation of the ammonia on ammonia-powered gas carriers to Ten08’s customers in Europe and Asia.
Clean ammonia can be used to decarbonize the fertilizer and the chemical industries and is also a low-carbon fuel that can be used both for the power sector and for the shipping industry. In the power sector, the development of 100% ammonia-fueled gas turbines and engines paves the way to low-carbon electricity generation from clean ammonia. This new source of ammonia demand is expected to represent a tripling of the current ammonia production worldwide. The shipping sector currently accounts for 3% of global GHG emissions, and according to Lloyd’s Register, by 2050 clean ammonia is expected to satisfy approximately 46% of the sector’s fuel needs. The low price point for blue ammonia and its scalability makes it an attractive fuel for the shipping industry to substantially reduce its GHG emissions as pressure mounts from the IMO and from EU regulations.
Navigator Holdings Ltd. is the owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers and a global leader in the seaborne transportation services of petrochemical gases, such as ethylene and ethane, liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”) and ammonia and owns a 50% share, through a joint venture, in an ethylene export marine terminal at Morgan’s Point, Texas on the Houston Ship Channel, USA. Navigator Gas’ fleet consists of 56 semi- or fully-refrigerated liquefied gas carriers, 25 of which are ethylene and ethane capable.
Attis provides development capital to large-scale clean fuel projects. In addition to its investment in Ten08, certain of the Attis principals have investments in Lake Charles Methanol, a 3.6 million metric tonne clean hydrogen-to-methanol project in Louisiana, and Western LNG, a 12 million metric tonne LNG project on the West coast of Canada.
Ten08 is developing an ultra-low-carbon blue ammonia and zero-carbon green ammonia project located on the Texas Gulf Coast. Ten08 has the goal of producing and delivering the most competitively priced clean ammonia to help decarbonize the fertilizer, power and shipping industries. Ten08’s first train will be capable of producing 1.4 million metric tonnes of clean ammonia per year and its site could host up to 6 million metric tonnes of production capacity.
