The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is in the process of finalising new guidelines for the safe importation of hydrogen and ammonia into Japan. The guidelines will identify key legislative considerations, outline key design and process considerations, and act as a useful starting point for relevant stakeholders to plan for new energy imports.
The pair will collaborate to link North Ammonia’s planned production sites in Norway with demand in Europe, via deployment of Höegh’s under-development floating ammonia cracker.
The Energy Bureau of Inner Mongolia has released plans for a common-user hydrogen pipeline infrastructure network throughout the region. This will support development of a series of renewable ammonia projects, and adds to the growing list of hydrogen pipeline projects across China. To transport the ammonia to key future demand centres (such as power plants and ports), ammonia pipelines may be the next step.
A new roadmap from the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT) has set a number of key drivers and enablers for ammonia imports of up to 25 million tons per year in the Antwerpen-Rotterdam-Rijn-Ruhr area by 2030. Public acceptance, a careful approach to safety and environmental concerns, regulatory updates and new ammonia pipelines will all be needed.
New import terminals, energy hubs, bunker facilities & upgrades to existing ammonia storage facilities are underway across Europe. This week, we explore new project announcements in Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel, Rotterdam and Immingham. We visit Taiwan for another ammonia import terminal announcement, and look at a new partnership between thyssenkrupp and ADNOC to deploy large-scale cracking - the “last piece of the puzzle” for global ammonia trading.
Air Products and Gunvor will jointly develop a renewable ammonia import terminal at Gunvor Petroleum’s existing refinery & distribution facilities in Rotterdam Europoort. The partners expect to be providing hydrogen to the Netherlands in 2026, with the new terminal receiving imports of renewable ammonia from Air Products production projects around the world. The new project is now the third ammonia import terminal under development at the Port of Rotterdam, and comes the same week as Dutch gas network operator Gasunie announced that it had started construction of a national hydrogen distribution network in the Netherlands.
APA Group and Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers (WesCEF) have signed a new MoU to investigate the potential of feeding renewable hydrogen to existing ammonia production facilities in Kwinana, near Perth. Sections of APA’s existing Parmelia Gas Pipeline are being assessed for conversion to carry 100% hydrogen. If successful, the pipeline could become a “pure renewable hydrogen service”. In Kwinana, plans are already underway for multiple newbuild hydrogen & ammonia projects.
LSB Industries’ existing El Dorado ammonia production plant will be retrofitted to allow capture and sequestration of CO2 emissions as part of a new partnership with Lapis Energy. Once operational in 2025, more than 375,000 tonnes CCS ammonia will be produced per year - about 75% of El Dorado’s total ammonia production capacity. El Dorado becomes the third publicly announced CCS ammonia plant in the US, with CF Industries and Air Products announcing projects last year.