Air Liquide, Fluxys Belgium and Port of Antwerp-Bruges awarded EU funding for building the Antwerp@C CO2 Export Hub

The EU Commission announced it will grant Air Liquide, Fluxys Belgium and Port of Antwerp-Bruges €144.6 million under the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy (CEF-E) funding program. The funding is earmarked for the construction of shared CO₂ transport and export facilities on the Antwerp port platform. The grant award is a major step towards the final investment decision, expected in 2023.

The project, named “Antwerp@C CO₂ Export Hub”, is set up as an open-access infrastructure to transport, liquefy and load CO₂ onto ships for onward permanent offshore storage. CO₂ captured on industrial players sites on the Antwerp port platform will be collected and transported via an intra-port open-access pipeline network. A shared liquefaction and export terminal will be built, including a CO₂ liquefaction unit, buffer storages and marine loading facilities for cross-border shipping. This innovative project will be among the first and largest multimodal open access CO₂ export facilities in the world.

Export terminal

As part of the project, Air Liquide and Fluxys intend to form a joint venture for the construction and operation of the CO₂ liquefaction and export terminal. The joint venture will benefit from Air Liquide’s expertise in CO₂ liquefaction and handling and from Fluxys’ experience in terminalling activities. Air Liquide will provide its proprietary technology for the CO₂ liquefaction plant, which will be a first of a kind in its scale and design. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges reserved a plot of land for the terminal on a strategic location inside the port, and will build new quay infrastructures for the mooring of CO₂ ships.

First phase of Antwerp@C

The project is the first phase of Antwerp@C, an initiative gathering Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, INEOS, TotalEnergies, Fluxys and Port of Antwerp-Bruges with the ambition to halve the CO₂ emissions in the Antwerp port area by 2030. In this first phase, Air Liquide and BASF will be the launching customers of the export hub through their joint CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) project “Kairos@C”^[1]. The Antwerp@C CO₂ Export Hub will have an initial export capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), with the ambition to reach up to 10 Mtpa by 2030. It will pave the way for future CCS initiatives in the region by providing scalable and modular infrastructures accessible to all industrial players.

Pascal Vinet, Senior Vice President and a member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee, supervising notably Europe Industries activities, said: “We are very pleased that the Antwerp@C CO2 Export Hub project, supported by innovative Air Liquide technologies, has been selected by the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy program. Alongside the use of renewable energy, carbon capture technology is essential to achieve in a short time frame massive CO₂ reductions and carbon neutrality objectives namely for hard-to-abate sectors. This initiative illustrates Air Liquide’s expertise and ambition to actively contribute to the emergence of a low-carbon society and to support its industrial customers in their decarbonization strategies.”

Pascal De Buck, CEO Fluxys, said: “We are delighted to launch this CO₂ infrastructure project with Air Liquide and Port of Antwerp-Bruges. Together with our partners, we offer strong and complementary know-how and expertise for providing reliable and efficient decarbonisation solutions, essential for achieving climate change objectives and ensuring the long-term viability of the economy. Antwerp@C CO₂ Export Hub is an integral part of the full-scale Fluxys CO₂ approach, offering emitters in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, in Belgium and beyond, the opportunity to convey their captured CO₂ through a backbone.”

Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp-Bruges, said: “Port of Antwerp-Bruges has been committed from the very start in the Antwerp@C project in order to reduce the CO2 emissions on the Antwerp port platform by 50% in 2030. The fact that we have been awarded this CEF-E subsidy today, which means we can now start building a joint CO2 infrastructure, makes us particularly proud. It strengthens us in our conviction that as a port authority we must continue to fully assume our role as community builder in order to achieve a climate impact that reaches far beyond the boundaries of the port platform.”

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Air Liquide, Fluxys and Port of Antwerp-Bruges, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.

About Air Liquide

A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 75 countries with approximately 66,400 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the company’s activities since its creation in 1902.

Taking action today while preparing the future is at the heart of Air Liquide’s strategy. With ADVANCE, its strategic plan for 2025, Air Liquide is targeting a global performance, combining financial and extra-financial dimensions. Positioned on new markets, the Group benefits from major assets such as its business model combining resilience and strength, its ability to innovate and its technological expertise. The Group develops solutions contributing to climate and the energy transition—particularly with hydrogen—and takes action to progress in areas of healthcare, digital and high technologies.

Air Liquide’s revenue amounted to more than 23 billion euros in 2021. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, CAC 40 ESG, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes.

About Fluxys Belgium

Fluxys Belgium is a Euronext listed subsidiary of infrastructure group Fluxys headquarted in Belgium. With 900 employees the company operates 4,000 kilometers of pipeline, a liquefied natural gas terminal totalling a yearly regasification capacity of 104 TWh and an underground storage facility.

As a purpose-led company, Fluxys Belgium together with its stakeholders contributes to a better society by shaping a bright energy future. Building on the unique assets of its infrastructure and its commercial and technical expertise, Fluxys Belgium is committed to transporting hydrogen, biomethane or any other carbon-neutral energy carrier as well as CO2, accommodating the capture, usage and storage of the latter. www.fluxys.com

About Port of Antwerp-Bruges

With an overall throughput of 289 million tonnes per year, Port of Antwerp-Bruges is a critical hub in worldwide trade and industry. The port is a crucial link for the handling of containers, breakbulk and for the throughput of vehicles. Port of Antwerp-Bruges is home to 1,400 companies and accommodates the largest integrated chemical cluster in Europe. The port

provides, directly and indirectly, a total of around 164,000 jobs and generates an added value of 21 billion euros.

The ambition for Port of Antwerp-Bruges is clear - to become the world’s first port that reconciles economy, people and climate. As well as growing in a sustainable way, the Port also aims to focus on its unique position as a logistics, maritime and industrial centre and to take the lead in the transition to a circular and low-carbon economy. Together with the port community, customers and other partners, Port of Antwerp-Bruges is actively seeking innovative solutions for a sustainable future. High on the agenda is its responsibility for the environment and the surrounding society.

The port sites of Antwerp and Zeebrugge are operated by the Antwerp-Bruges Port Authority, a limited liability company of public law with the City of Antwerp and the City of Bruges as its shareholders. The port employs 1,800 people. Vice-Mayor of Antwerp Annick De Ridder is President of the Board of Directors, the Mayor of Bruges Dirk De fauw is the Vice-President. Jacques Vandermeiren is CEO and President of the Executive Committee, which is responsible for the port’s day-to-day management

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^[1]Kairos@C is a joint Air Liquide and BASF project supported by the EU Innovation Fund that will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions at the BASF chemical site in Antwerp by 14 Mt of CO₂ over its first 10 years of operation.