The European Commission will allocate more than 150 million euros for two Belgian projects intended to capture CO2 in the ports of Antwerp and Ghent. That is what the companies involved in the project communicated on Monday in a common press release.

Antwerp@C Export Hub is a joint project of Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, Fluxys, Ineos, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, and TotalEnergies.

Together, they want to capture and transport CO2 and store it in the empty fields in the North Sea to reduce their emission level by 14,2 million tons in the coming ten years.

Both partners use and share the infrastructure they set up with five other chemical and energy companies to half CO2 emissions in the Antwerp harbor by 2030.

Infrastructure

Antwerp – the port of Antwerp, Fluxys, and Air Liquide – will get 144,6 million euros; Ghent – the port of Ghent, Fluxys, and steel manufacturing corporation ArcelorMittal – will receive 9,6 million.

The European funding applies specifically to the first phase of the project: the development of the infrastructure to transport, liquify, and load CO2 onto ships for further permanent offshore storage.

Antwerp@C aims to halve CO2 emissions in the port of Antwerp by 2030. The export hub will have an initial capacity of 2,5 million tons annually, to be raised to 10 million per year. The final investment decision is expected in 2023.