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Spanish firm to build world’s largest ammonia tanks at Neom

23 November 2023

Spanish engineering company Emypro has been awarded a civil sub-contracting deal for the construction of green ammonia storage tanks as part of the Neom green hydrogen project.

The project’s scope includes the installation of two tanks, and work will start in December 2023, according to a statement from the company.

“It must be emphasised that the ammonia storage tanks will become the two largest in the world to store green ammonia for the production of electricity through hydrogen,” the company said.

The contract for the tanks was awarded by Luxembourg-headquartered Man Enterprise, which is the main contractor for a larger ammonia tanks project with a scope that includes:

  • Construction of two ammonia storage tanks
  • Construction of a pumping station
  • Construction of a control room
  • Laying interconnecting pipelines and flowlines
  • Infrastructure works
  • Installation of surface facilities
  • Construction of associated facilities

Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) awarded the main contract for the larger ammonia tank project in June 2022. It is believed to have a value of $60m.

NGHC is a consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, Neom and US-based Air Products.

Xavi Marti, the managing director of Emypro, said: “I would like to thank Man Enterprise and Air Products for the trust placed in Emypro, recognising our technical and management capacity for the development of a project of this magnitude.”

He added: “We are in a moment of global change at an energy level and these achievements allow us to position ourselves as one of the leading companies in the sector, executing in this project the two ammonia tanks with the highest capacity in the world, to date.

“In a world as competitive and global as the one we live in, it is not easy to achieve this type of project, but little by little we are making our way.

“We have recently completed our participation with the engineering, supervision and construction of molten salt storage tanks in what, today, is considered the largest thermosolar plant in the world, for Dewa, ​​and now we are facing another important challenge in Neom (Saudi Arabia) with the full confidence of being able to develop, with the same success as in Dubai, the contract that has been awarded to us.”

In December last year, NGHC announced signing facility agreements with local, regional and international banks for the $8.4bn integrated green hydrogen and ammonia facility in Neom.

The Neom green hydrogen and green ammonia project includes 20MW of electrolysers to produce 600 tonnes of green hydrogen a day, an air separation unit (ASU) to produce nitrogen and a process plant to convert hydrogen into 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia a year.

It also includes renewable energy plants, battery storage and power transmission network infrastructure.

Air Products is the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the entire integrated green hydrogen and ammonia facility, which will require a total investment of $8.4bn.

Acwa Power and Air Products signed limited notice to proceed (LNTP) agreements for the $900m EPC contract for the project in April 2022.

The agreements include an in-kingdom LNTP for the EPC contract between NGHC and Air Products Middle East Industrial Gases; and an out-of-kingdom LNTP for the EPC contract between NGHC and Air Products Equipment.

A power infrastructure deal with India’s Larson & Toubro (L&T) is understood to be a sub-contract with Air Products.

In June 2021, US-headquartered Baker Hughes announced it would supply Air Products with advanced compression technology for the facility’s electrolyser plant.

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Wil Crisp

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