Cepsa, ACE Terminal sign MoU for export-import of green ammonia

Spanish oil major Cepsa said on Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Dutch ACE Terminal developers to ship green ammonia from Spain to their planned terminal at the port of Rotterdam.

The ACE Terminal project is led by Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie, bulk handling company HES International BV and tank storage provider Royal Vopak NV (AMS:VPK), which are planning to build an import terminal to receive, store and convert ammonia to hydrogen or transport it directly to end users in Northwest Europe.

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Cepsa will produce ammonia from green hydrogen at its two energy parks in southern Spain that will become part of its EUR-3-billion (USD 3.2bn) Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. The 2-GW Valley project has already secured agreements with Portuguese utility EDP Energias de Portugal SA (ELI:EDP) and Spanish renewable gases company Enagas Renovable and green energy firm Alter Enersun for part of the development, but also a MoU with the Port of Rotterdam for the transport of hydrogen in the form of ammonia or methanol to the Netherlands. From there, hydrogen or ammonia can be transported to heavy industrial consumers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Cepsa said that its MoU with ACE Terminal “entails a cooperation intended to lead to a binding commercial agreement” to facilitate green ammonia transport and distribution to end markets, and processing ammonia into hydrogen. Their MoU is the first of agreements that ACE Terminal seeks to sign on the way to developing what it says will be Europe’s largest green ammonia import terminal.

The first shipments from Spain are expected to start in 2027, which fits with the timeline of the ACE Terminal project.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.068)