A new strategy roadmap launched alongside the recent AEA APAC conference envisions Port Hedland in the Pilbara region as a major clean fuel bunkering hub. In news from roadmap partners, Oceania Maritime Energy and SeaTech Solutions have received approval in principle for their ammonia bunkering vessel design (also at the APAC conference), and BHP has signed time charter contracts for two ammonia dual fuel Newcastlemax bulk carriers to carry iron ore to northeast Asia.
NH3 Clean Energy will collaborate with Woodside to progress the Angel CCS project offshore of the Pilbara in northwestern Australia. Meanwhile, NH3 will work with Oceania Marine Energy and Pilbara Ports to establish an ammonia bunkering service at the Port of Dampier by 2030, targeting iron ore transport between Australia and Asia.
In recent months, project developments include completion of pre-FEED work, as well as partnerships to explore options for the delivery of ammonia to both export and bunkering vessels, long-term gas feedstock supply, and shared carbon dioxide pipeline infrastructure.
The West Australian state government has allocated land to four organisations as it progresses development of the Pilbara Hydrogen Hub. Fortescue Future Industries, Yara, Hexagon and Perdaman have all been selected to participate, adding to the list of ammonia projects already underway in the region.
A new, million-tonne per-year blue ammonia project is under development in the Northern Territory, Australia, with gas from the Pedirka Basin (located near Alice Springs) to be used to produce hydrogen, and carbon emissions sequestered in a nearby geological formation. An MoU between project developer Hexagon Energy Materials and FRV Australia will see FRV-owned renewable power (existing or new build) provide electricity to Hexagon's to-be-built hydrogen and ammonia production facilities.
In Wyoming, North Shore Energy and Starwood Energy Group have received over $4 million in funding from the Wyoming Energy Authority for "Project Phoenix" - a state-of-the-art ammonia complex with on-site carbon capture and sequestration capabilities to be built near Evanston.