Editorial Comment

TYLER CAMPBELL, Managing Editor

To establish a sustainable global green hydrogen (H₂) market, offtake agreements—which determine the sale, purchase and supply of green H₂ and its derivatives—are paramount. Without clear buyers, large investments in green H₂ projects will continue to present challenges. The lack of clarity in the role that H₂ will play in the future global energy mix contributes to the lack of offtake commitments, and of course, agreement terms will vary depending on the H₂’s planned end-use (e.g., industrial, power generation).

According to the Green Hydrogen Oragnization, green H₂ offtake agreements will resemble a hybrid blend of concepts used in power purchase agreements (PPAs) for power generation projects and gas supply and purchase agreements (GSPAs).¹ There is still no global consensus on H₂ pricing as there is for crude or liquified natural gas (LNG), making negotiations for early-stage green H₂ offtake agreements extremely difficult. LNG faced these same challenges in the early stages of its market. 

Recent H₂ offtake agreements. Despite these challenges, several offtake agreements have been made in recent months for H₂ and its derivatives. In October 2024, Woodside and Keppel signed a conditional offtake term sheet for the supply and purchase of liquid H₂ to power Keppel’s data centers in Singapore from as early as 2030. The term sheet is conditional, depending on the negotiation and execution of a fully termed sales and purchase agreement and all necessary approvals. 

In the same month (October 2024), BASF and AM Green B.V. entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that included a non-binding letter of intent for the offtake of 100,000 metric tpy of green ammonia (nitrogen and H₂) produced from renewable energy in India. In December 2024, Hapag-Lloyd reached a long-term offtake agreement with Goldwind to deliver 250,000 tpy of green methanol (carbon, H₂ and oxygen). 

So far, in 2025, other offtake agreements include: 

• Provaris Energy and Norwegian Hydrogen: A conditional term sheet with Uniper Global Commodities SE for the supply, transport and offtake of renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO)-certified H₂. The agreement outlined the delivery of 42,500 tpy of green H₂, transported via Provaris’ innovative H2Neo compressed H₂ carriers. 

• Trammo and ExxonMobil: A head of agreement (HoA) for Trammo’s long-term offtake of 300,000 tpy─500,000 tpy of low-carbon ammonia from ExxonMobil’s Baytown, Texas (U.S.) facility. 

• HNO International: A H₂ offtake agreement with a Texas-based company supporting zero-emissions mobility. Under the agreement, HNO will supply H₂ from its 1.25-MW Scalable H₂ Energy Platform, which produces up to 500 kg/d of green H₂. 

• Lhyfe: A major contract with INOCEL for the supply of up to 140 tons of green H₂ over a period of 4 yr for the test benches of high-power fuel cells manufactured by INOCEL. 

H₂ offtake agreements are a critical component in developing the global H₂ landscape. With a guaranteed demand, investments in H₂ infrastructure will increase and project financing issues will dissipate. These are a few examples of offtake agreements for various end uses, and while the projects may differ, the chicken-or-the-egg dilemma continues to be a challenge. H₂T

LITERATURE CITED 

¹ Green Hydrogen Organisation, “Considerations for hydrogen offtake agreements,” 2024, online: https://gh2.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/GH2_Considerations%20for%20Hydrogen%20Offtake%20Agreements_2024.pdf