Argus spoke to Vopak executive vice president for global business development Maarten Smeets at the Argus Clean Ammonia conference in Rotterdam. Edited highlights follow…
Vopak has announced its participation in multiple low-carbon ammonia projects. Which projects are currently at the top of its priority list?
Our most advanced project is in Antwerp, where we are in the front end engineering design phase. We are preparing to build building an import facility there. A final investment decision is planned for the second half of 2026.
We have a fantastic footprint in India with Aegis Vopak Terminals — that project is under construction. The environment in India is business friendly and it's an important import market for the fertilizer business. But when green ammonia becomes available domestically and if product flows reverse, we'll be well positioned. So we're fairly bullish on that project.
If you then look even further to the east, in Japan we are co-operating with IHI. There we are waiting for the outcome of the government's contract for difference scheme before things move ahead.
So we're putting our pawns everywhere on the board. If you look at where we believe most of the capital will land, it will probably land a bit further to the east. China is also coming up with the next five-year plan and it will probably go more green. If China and India bring those green molecules, they will find a way to the world market.
In both of these countries we have a pretty ok footprint. In China we have seven terminals, in India we have 13. Here, we are pretty well positioned to capture some of these flows, which will go to OECD countries that can afford it, like Japan.
In Europe, there is a bit of uncertainty on the regulatory part. But there is another dimension, which is that due to the high cost environment, imports of grey ammonia could increase. That will build with blue, and if green happens — that will be really fantastic. The ARA [Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp] region remains a very strong foothold for us.
What led to the pause of the Houston Ship Channel low-carbon ammonia plant in collaboration with LSB, Air Liquide and Inpex? Could it be resumed at a later date?
Definitely. We have a very nice footprint in that area. We are keen to keep on developing it. We were one of the front-runners at that stage in time. Sometimes if you storm out of the gate first, you would be the first one to get burned. It's nothing to be ashamed of and actually we are very proud of all the partners that we are working with. Unfortunately, one of the parties backing [the project] in the end took a decision to not participate in the auctions, removing some of the basis needed to underpin the project. We are very happy to develop projects, but need a line of sight on offtake.
We continue to look for export projects on the Gulf Coast with other parties. It's a good place to be. It's still an area that is favourable to develop some of these projects. We understand the ship to shore interface very well. We understand how to develop ammonia infrastructure. Now it is about finding the right combination of the right piece of land and the right customer that underpins it.
How do you see the ammonia market developing in comparison to the other alternative fuels you handle?
We see that ammonia is still one of the best carriers of hydrogen, if we want to go to a hydrogen economy. But it is also fair to say that we are placing our bets on multiple products.
We are very large in the three large bunker hubs in the world: Rotterdam, Singapore and Fujairah. In Rotterdam, we have started with LNG bunkering, where we've seen healthy growth. In Singapore, we have done trials for methanol bunkering. We have done trials for ammonia bunkering. We will be able to bunker methanol, no problem. We have been storing methanol for over 50-60 years across the globe.
We believe there is a bit of work to be done on the ammonia side to make people more comfortable with it. And it is questionable in some of those global leading ports. Can you envision a world in 20-30 years where there are 50 or so ammonia bunker vessels sailing around the port of Singapore? A fuel oil spill is nasty for the environment, but ammonia spills will have a way more severe impact. So probably some of the regulations around it might be a bit more stringent.
Maybe it needs hard piping instead of flexible hoses, those kinds of things. There are workarounds. But are we excited about the opportunity? Very much so. It requires more infrastructure, so that's what we're there for. And we are pretty agnostic whether it's LNG, whether it's methanol, whether it's biofuels or whether it's all of them. And that's also fair to say — it will probably be a mix of all of them.
Can you provide an update on your projects in Rotterdam, Japan and Oman?
In Rotterdam, we are developing many of these projects together with Gas Unis. We remain very committed to doing so. We're studying the landscape. We are looking to find the right location within the port and we're pretty close.
In Japan, the outcomes of the contracts for difference scheme are starting to be announced, so once that happens we hope we can continue to move pretty fast to the next stage. IHI is looking at it from the power side, which means there is natural offtake there. But in the end, it requires government support to kick in. Once the projects are awarded, we expect we will be able move ahead. So we are probably targeting an end of 2030 timeline to be up and running.
We have just started the journey in Oman really. Hopefully, we can build infrastructure that supports the energy transition. We have people on the ground there now — two or three people. Will the first project be a green ammonia export project? Most likely not. But is that on the cards? Most definitely.
