NH3 Clean Energy and Japanese trader ITOCHU will collaborate over the next two years to support the development of ammonia bunkering operations in the Pilbara by 2030.
An Australia-based consortium led by CSIRO, Australian Maritime College and TasRex has progressed plans for a five-day ammonia safety training course for port and ship crew, with the first cohort to undergo training in May-June 2026.
MOL has become the first shipping line and future fuel customer to join the Pilbara Clean Fuels Bunkering Hub initiative. MOL aims for its under-development, Capesize bulk carrier vessels to be bunkered in the Pilbara by 2030, servicing the iron ore supply corridor between West Australia and East Asia.
Hiringa Energy, Sundown Pastoral Company and the NSW Government announced that financial close has been reached on the Good Earth Green Hydrogen and Ammonia (GEGHA) project in Moree, regional NSW. Project financing was provided by the National Australia Bank, with funding from the NSW state government.
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.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has conditionally awarded AU$432 million in hydrogen production credits to support the operation of the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub. Located adjacent to Orica’s existing ammonia production facility on Kooragang Island, the grid-powered, 50 MW electrolysis plant will displace around 7.5% of gas feedstock consumed daily.
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.
The new strategic agreement between the two parties will see KBR act as exclusive licensing and marketing partner of Hazer Group’s proprietary methane pyrolysis technology, which can produce low-carbon hydrogen and high quality graphite from biomethane.
A study spearheaded by the West Australian state government and completed in collaboration between the Mid West Port Authority (Australia), Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems has shown that renewable ammonia transportation from Western Australia to Germany via Rotterdam is technologically and economically feasible.