Equinor joins green ammonia bunkering study team
Written by Nick Blenkey
Floating ammonia bunkering terminals will be key to planned network
Norwegian plans for a green ammonia bunkering network first announced in April 2022 are making progress. State-owned energy giant Equinor has become a partner in the “AFNO 2030 – Ammonia fuel for the Norwegian offshore sector 2025-2030” project.
While Equinor has become a major player in green energy areas such as offshore wind, it started life as Noroil. It still gets most of its revenues from natural gas and oil, but has long been committed to making their production as green as possible. The AFNO 2023 project will study how clean ammonia can be introduced as a fuel to decarbonize the Norwegian offshore sector and will cover logistical optimization, operational planning, and safety aspects.
Ammonia’s attraction as a clean fuel is that it can be burned in an engine or a fuel cell but does not contain carbon and thus no CO2 is emitted. Key challenges to be overcome include safety issues related to ammonia toxicity and corrosiveness.
AFNO 2030 planned activities are divided in three main categories:
- Develop an estimated ammonia fuel demand timeline.
- Develop a fuel supply value chain development plan.
- Perform site-specific location planning for bunkering.
“We look forward to working with Equinor to showcase how clean ammonia can be utilized to decarbonize the Norwegian offshore sector. Equinor can play an important role in the maritime green shift – as a first mover to utilize the fuel, technologies and bunkering infrastructure required for the industry to make the leap” says Håkon Skjerstad, newly appointed CEO at Azane Fuel Solutions.
The project expands upon the groundwork laid by the “AFBN – Ammonia fuel bunkering network” project during the past two years in. Led by Azane Fuel Solutions in a consortium that includes partners like Yara Clean Ammonia, SINTEF, and Fjord Base (Norway’s largest offshore supply base), the project has now welcomed Equinor as an associated partner
In April 2022 Yara announced that it had pre-ordered up to 15 ammonia bunkering terminals to sufficiently cover the Scandinavian market in a multi-year contract with Azane Fuel Solutions. The network of carbon-free floating bunkering terminals is a major step towards making shipping fossil-fuel free.
One of Azane Fuel Solutions’ affiliates is Amon Maritime, which is involved in a number of ammonia fueled vessel projects, and whose Amon Offshore unit has developed a design for an ammonia-fueled PSV that received an approval in principle from DNV in March 2022, followed in May 2022 by preliminary flag from the Norwegian Maritime Authorities.
“We look forward to working with Equinor to showcase how clean ammonia can be utilized to decarbonize the Norwegian offshore sector. Equinor can play an important role in the maritime green shift – as a first mover to utilize the fuel, technologies and bunkering infrastructure required for the industry to make the leap” says Håkon Skjerstad, newly appointed CEO at Azane Fuel Solutions.
