bp will acquire a 40.5 percent equity stake in and become operator of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, after reaching an agreement with project partners InterContinental Energy, CWP Global and Macquarie Capital. At full-scale AREH will feature production of up to 9 million tonnes of renewable ammonia per year for export.
Aramco is targeting production of 11 million tonnes per year of low-carbon ammonia by 2030, among a raft of new sustainability goals announced this week. Aramco’s target for renewable energy generating capacity target (12 GW) will be met by its involvement in the new ammonia Supergiant the Saudi Arabia Renewable Energy Hub, but the source of low-carbon ammonia production is not yet clear.
TotalEnergies will acquire a 25% stake in Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL), with ANIL to act as the “exclusive platform” for Total and Adani to produce and commercialise renewable hydrogen in India. Together the pair have set ambitious targets: 1 million tonnes renewable hydrogen production per year and 30 GW of new renewable generating capacity by 2030. The first project in focus will be a 1.3 million tonne per year urea plant to displace current fertiliser imports.
Our latest episode of Maritime Ammonia Insights revealed key details about the Ammonia Bunkering Safety Study currently being undertaken in Singapore. The study is led by the Global Center for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), with DNV acting as a consulting partner. Lau Wei Jie (GCMD) took us through the high-profile lineup of study partners, and explained how the study aims to develop an extensive technical guideline for ammonia bunkering, similar to TR 56 (which covers LNG bunkering). Dr. Imran Ibrahim (DNV Maritime Advisory), then explained the technical scope of the study, how pilot project sites will be selected, and how the study partners are using previous work from Rotterdam and Oslo to hone their approach. Our audience was eager to understand how this work in Singapore might be applied elsewhere, and keenly awaits the results, which are due for public release in February 2023.
ACME Group and the Government of Karnataka have signed a new MoU for a renewable hydrogen & ammonia project in southwest India. The $7 billion project will feature a 1.2 million tonne per year ammonia plant. Karnataka will sit alongside ACME’s renewable ammonia projects in Rajasthan (pilot-scale) and Oman (mega-scale). In related news, ACME signed a new MoU with NYK Line in late May for the latter to become the “strategic shipping partner” for its ammonia projects.
Eastern Pacific Shipping will lead development of an ammonia-powered, dual-fuel gas tanker. The carrier will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, registered under the Singapore national flag, classed by ABS, and will be the first vessel fitted with MAN Energy Solutions’ G60 two-stroke dual-fuel ammonia engine. As EPS steadily scales up its engagement with maritime ammonia, another high-profile consortium is accelerating a bunkering study in Singapore.
KEPCO, Samsung C&T, and Korea Western Power will join forces with UAE-based developer Petrolyn Chemie to construct a 200,000 tonne per year renewable ammonia production plant in the KIZAD Industrial Area near Abu Dhabi. The announcement marks the second overseas ammonia project launched by a Korean consortium this year, the first being an export project in Malaysia announced in January.
On the home front for South Korea, a new amendment to the national hydrogen law will see certification of clean hydrogen based entirely on carbon emissions during production, and not technology pathways.
A high-profile industry consortium (including Equinor, Shell and ABS) will validate NOV’s subsea fuel storage system. NOV argues subsea storage will be a crucial element for effective distribution of ammonia as an alternative maritime fuel. Validation testing is expected to be completed by the end of next year, with the first projects deployed late 2024 to 2025.
Amogy have successfully demonstrated a new ammonia-powered tractor in Stony Brook, New York. A 100 kW ammonia-to-power system was successfully integrated into a John Deere mid-size standard tractor, which can operate on liquid ammonia fuel for a period of several hours.
Singapore-based Ocean Network Express has signed contracts with two ship-builders for construction of five ammonia-ready VLCCs each (ten total), to be delivered in 2025. In Japan, NYK Line, IHI Power Systems and ClassNK will develop, deliver and fuel an ammonia-powered tugboat for the City of Yokohama, with the vessel to be delivered and working in the port in 2024.