RWE plans ammonia imports to German Brunsbuettel terminal from 2026

German utility RWE is planning to build an ammonia import facility at the country's Brunsbuettel terminal, with deliveries starting from 2026, the company said in a statement March 18.

The terminal will take around 300,000 mt/year of renewable ammonia initially, with a planned expansion to 2 million mt/year.

The facility will sit alongside the 8 Bcm/year German LNG terminal at the site, which received a boost earlier in March with a memorandum of understanding to start construction.

"It is now more important than ever to think of climate protection and security of supply as one," RWE CEO Markus Krebber said in the statement. "This flagship project will cover the entire value chain from import, to conversion, transport and use by industrial customers."

RWE said the next step is to build an industrial scale cracker to convert ammonia into hydrogen, which will be supplied to industrial customers via a dedicated hydrogen pipeline.

German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said the project was vital to the country's security of energy supply.

"Russia's brutal war against Ukraine has made it abundantly clear that we must become independent of fuel imports from Russia," Habeck said in the statement. "The LNG terminal in Brunsbuettel is an important element in this, as it will increase the capabilities to import gas to Germany. Green ammonia as a liquefied hydrogen derivative can make an important contribution to supplying Germany with green hydrogen."

Brunsbuettel Ports is providing logistics support with infrastructure to unload tankers, RWE said.

RWE has taken a 10% stake in the German LNG project company, with German state-owned KfW having a 50% share and Gasunie owning 40%.

S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed ammonia CFR Northwest Europe at $1,460/mt on March 17, with prices having risen sharply since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Prices were $960/mt on Feb. 21.