The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture by INPEX Corporation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Iwatani Corporation, all of Japan, on the liquefaction and transportation of hydrogen.
The transaction relates primarily to the liquefaction of hydrogen in Australia and its transport to Japan. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the limited impact on the European Economic Area. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.
To remind, it was also recently announced that Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chiyoda Corporation, Toyo Engineering Corporation and JGC Corporation signed a joint venture agreement to enhance the front-end engineering design (FEED) execution for a liquefied hydrogen supply chain in development by Japan Suiso Energy.
In August 2021, Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), allocated a grant from the Japanese government’s Green Innovation Fund to JSE, Iwatani Corporation and ENEOS Corporation for the “Liquefied Hydrogen Supply Chain Commercialization Demonstration Project”.
In this project, JSE will establish the world’s first large-scale hydrogen liquefaction and transportation technology, involving an initial 30,000 tons of hydrogen per year before upscaling.
JSE will also demonstrate a comprehensive and reliable global liquefied hydrogen (LH2) supply chain, covering hydrogen production, liquefaction, export from Australia, marine transportation, and import.
