19 October (Lloyd's List) - A DUTCH joint venture that includes Rotterdam port will go ahead with a €1.3bn ($1.37bn) carbon storage project.
The Porthos JV plans to take CO2 from companies with facilities at the port of Rotterdam including Shell, ExxonMobil and Air Liquide to transport and store it in depleted North Sea gas fields.
Porthos aims to start building in 2024 with a planned start in 2026.
The energy producers will invest in their own carbon capture installations to supply CO2 to Porthos.
Porthos aims to store around 2.5m tonnes of CO2 per year in depleted North Sea gas fields about 12 miles off the coast at a depth of 2 miles to 2.5 miles under the seabed for 15 years, it said in a press release.
The final investment decision came after the Dutch Council of State greenlit the project, rejecting objections from environmental groups.
The European Union designated Porthos as a project of common interest and awarded it $108m.
Porthos is a joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam Authority, natural gas infrastructure firm Gasunie and energy firm EBN.
The project will help the Rotterdam port industry to reduce emissions by 10%, according to the press release.
Some of the alternative fuels that are expected to be key to shipping’s decarbonisation require carbon capture and storage, such as renewable hydrogen-derived green methanol and blue ammonia.
Green methanol production requires additional CO2 in the production phase, while blue ammonia production consists of conventional ammonia supply coupled with carbon capture and storage.
The US’ Inflation Reduction Act is expected to increase blue ammonia production sharply, as there are already some companies, including Yara Clean Ammonia, that have blue ammonia projects in the US.
Blue ammonia reduces full lifecycle emissions by 78% compared with low-sulphur fuel oil, according to a report by the Maersk-Mckinney Moller Centre for Zero-Carbon Shipping.
