Horisont Energi and the Port of Rotterdam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up a corridor to transport blue ammonia from Norway to Rotterdam.
According to the agreement, Horisont Energi and the Port of Rotterdam will collaborate to ship blue ammonia from Northern Norway, the place of its production, to the Dutch port, where it will be further distributed to meet expected demand in Northwestern Europe.
The final investment decision for the production of blue ammonia at the Barents Blue project is expected towards the end of 2022, while it could be shipped to Rotterdam by 2025.
By then, it is estimated that Barents Blue will have a production capacity of 3,000 tons of ammonia per day, which translates to one million tons per year.
Produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage, blue ammonia is not only a global key industrial gas in the fertiliser and chemical sector but also a very efficient hydrogen carrier.
Ammonia is one of the most promising fuels for the decarbonisation of the shipping industry.
Director New Business at the Port of Rotterdam, Nico van Dooren pointed out the importance of this gas, saying, “There’s an important role for blue hydrogen if we want to realise the international climate ambitions. This is because especially in the coming years, there will not be enough green hydrogen to meet the demand.”
He added, “We’ll need every possible solution. We, therefore, focus not only on green but also on blue, just as we don’t only look at local production but also at imports.”
The port of Rotterdam is an energy hub port for western Europe and has the ambition to be net-zero CO2 emission in 2050.
The demand in Rotterdam is expected to be up to 20 million tons of hydrogen, equivalent to 100 million tons of ammonia in 2050, according to Port of Rotterdam estimations.
