Oil supermajor BP is set to acquire financier Macquarie’s 15.25% stake in the massive Australian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects, according to The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

The ambitious project, being led by BP, would see 26GW of wind turbines and solar panels in northern Western Australia powering an estimated 14GW of electrolysers, producing 1.6 million tonnes of renewable H₂ or nine million tonnes of green ammonia annually. The majority of the output would be exported to countries such as South Korea and Japan.

BP currently has a 48.32% equity stake in the $36bn, 6,500sq km project, which would rise to 63.57% if it were to buy out Macquarie.

The remaining shares in the AREH are owned by its original developers, independent producers InterContinental Energy (26.39%) and CWP Global (10.04%).

The project was first announced in 2017 as the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, which would export 6GW of wind and solar power to Indonesia through a long-distance cable. It later morphed into a green ammonia export project, and BP took an initial 40.5% stake in June 2022, before increasing its stake by buying shares from InterContinental and CWP.

A BP spokesman told The Sydney Morning Herald that it was “perfectly poised” to buy Macquarie’s stake, and that the project was making significant progress, but the Australian financier has not commented on the report.

BP CEO Murray Auchincloss told analysts in late 2022, when he was chief financial officer, that the project had several major challenges, including locking in customers and electrolyser suppliers, as well as securing a vast amount of debt financing.

Recharge’s sister title Hydrogen Insight has approached BP and Macquarie for comment.

• This article was published first by Hydrogen Insight