Yara commits to Northern Lights for CCS ammonia production

Decarbonisation pathway for Yara’s largest plant

Following an agreement on commercial terms last September, Yara and Northern Lights have entered into a binding agreement for a carbon, capture & sequestration chain to decarbonise ammonia production at Yara’s Sluiskil plant in the Netherlands. From 2025, 800,000 tonnes of captured CO₂ will be transported and sequestered at Northern Lights’ site off the coast of Øygarden, Norway each year. Liquefied CO₂ will initially be stored in onshore tanks at Øygarden, prior to injection into an offshore saline aquifer via pipeline for sequestration.

Over fifteen years, the agreement will see 12 million tonnes of carbon emissions transported to Norway. The Sluiskil complex can produce up to 1.9 million tonnes of ammonia per year, by far Yara’s largest capacity plant. On its own, the complex is one of the Netherland’s largest annual emitters.

We are very pleased that Yara has selected Northern Lights as CO₂ transport and storage provider. This commercial agreement gives us the opportunity to further utilise the capacity at our storage site below the North Sea. It confirms the commercial potential for CCS and demonstrates that the market for transport and storage of CO₂ is evolving rapidly.

Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights in Yara’s official press release, 20 Nov 2023

Yara Sluiskil is showing the way forward for European industry by taking another step on the decarbonization journey. Since 1990 Yara Sluiskil has cut 3.4 million tons of CO₂ equivalents per year from its ammonia and fertilizer production, whilst at the same time almost doubling its production. Now we continue by reducing one of the biggest emission points in the Netherlands.

Michael Schlaug, VP Yara Netherlands in his organisation’s official press release, 20 Nov 2023

2023 has been a significant year for Yara:

• In January, Yara announced that ammonia import capacity at its Brunsbüttel terminal would be increased to 3 million tonnes per year.
• Also in January, an agreement with JERA was signed for two purposes: exploration of a joint ammonia mega-project on the US Gulf Coast, and the sale of ammonia fuel from 2027 to be used in co-firing trials in Japan.
• In March, Yara and Enbridge announced they would explore a CCS ammonia mega-project (also on the US Gulf Coast.
• In April, Yara and German gas utility VNG announced they will create a supply chain for ammonia imports to Germany via the Port of Rostock.
• In June, Yara and Spanish energy giant Cepsa joined forces to establish a green maritime corridor between Algeciras and Rotterdam.
• Also in June, Yara and Bunker Holding launched a partnership to explore ammonia bunkering opportunities globally.
• In November, Yara and North Sea Container Line unveiled the design of the Yara Eyde: an ammonia-fueled containership that will sail from 2026.
• And also in November, a new partnership with Höegh Autoliners will see Yara provide a future supply of ammonia fuel for Höegh’s fleet of ammonia-fueled car carriers.