But after entering a brief trading halt,Fortescue issued a statement to the ASX stating the $50 billion figure was a “high-level assessment by the chairman of what such a major project may cost” and “Fortescue clarifies that there is no commitment to this expenditure and all such final investment decisions will be at the sole discretion of the Fortescue board”.
Fortescue Future Industries is a green energy subsidiary of Fortescue Metals,which mines iron ore. Fortescue has committed to invest 10 per cent of its profits into FFI,estimated to be $US1 billion this year. Since it was set up,the subsidiary has announced a string of ambitious green energy projects,and it plans to deploy money alongside other investors.
“We are working closely with banks,institutional investors,multilaterals and export credit agencies,globally,as they confirm their commitment to supporting project funding for green energy. They are actively seeking to invest and commit the capital required to scale green energy projects and help steer companies along Paris-aligned net-zero pathways,” it said in the ASX statement.
Fortescue shares were slightly higher at $19.87 in mid-afternoon trading.
The deal comes at a critical juncture for energy policy in Europe. European nations,which currently import about a third of their natural gas from Russia,are facing calls to drastically reduce dependence on Moscow’s energy exports in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Germany,in particular,has faced fierce criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for being theworld’s largest importer of Russian gas. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed to become independent of Russian supplies by 2024,but last week warned doing it too fast would mean plunging all of Europe into recession.
The goal is to produce hydrogen in Australia using wind and solar power and begin shipping it to Europe to be distributed through EON’s pipelines. Deliveries would begin in 2024 and build up to a volume of five million tonnes of hydrogen a year by 2030 - equal to about a third of the energy Germany imports from Russia.