Hailing the move as ”groundbreaking” for the decarbonisation of European heavy industry, it opens market for cross border CO2 transport and storage as a service, and is a major milestone towards achieving Yara’s own net zero targets.
Yara and Northern Lights have agreed on the main commercial terms to transport CO2 captured from Yara Sluiskil, an ammonia and fertilizer plant in the Netherlands, and permanently store it under the seabed off the coast of western Norway.
When the final contractual details are firmed up, it will set the standard for other industrial companies across Europe looking to use Northern Lights – and other emerging CO2 transport options and stores in the North Sea – as a key part of their decarbonisation strategies.
Significant volumes of CO2 are reused in greenhouse plant production, as an ingredient for carbonated drinks and for other purposes such as urea and AdBlue, a high purity urea-based solution for diesel engines.
From early 2025, 800,000 tonnes of pure CO2 will be captured, compressed, and liquefied in the Netherlands, and then transported to the Northern Lights store at 2,600 metres under the seabed off the coast of Øygarden.
Svein Tore Holsether, CEO Yara International ASA, said, “Action to decarbonise industry is urgent … this will take us a step further towards carbon-free food production and accelerate the supply of clean ammonia for fuel and power production.”
Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights, said, ”With this we are establishing a market for transport and storage of CO2. From early 2025 we will be shipping the first tonnes of CO2 from the Netherlands to Norway. This will demonstrate that CCS is a climate tool for Europe.”
Northern Lights – which targets operations from 2024 – is the transport and storage part of the Longship project, funded 80% by the Norwegian government.
It is developing an open and flexible infrastructure to transport CO2 from industrial emitters by ship to a receiving terminal in western Norway for intermediate storage, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600m under the seabed.
Building on over 20 years of offshore CO2 storage in Norway, the government has worked closely with Norwegian industrial emitters and Northern Lights to create the world’s first open access full value chain CCS model. As part of its funding, the government stipulated that Northern Lights develop a commercial business model and offer its service to the rest of Europe.
The Longship model shows that CCS is doable, safe, and cost-effective. It has also helped to develop a commercial model and a market to support it.
Longship provides a platform for Norwegian businesses and service providers to innovate, leveraging experience, first-mover advantage, and significant offshore storage capacity – and it offers European industry a crucial decarbonisation option and solutions to replicate.
As a result of record high gas prices in Europe, Yara is implementing further cuts which will take its total European ammonia capacity utilisation to around 35%, curtailing annual capacity equivalent of 3.1m tonnes of ammonia and 4m tonnes finished products (1.8m tonnes urea, 1.9m tonnes nitrates and 0.3m tonnes NPK) across its production system on the continent.
According to a statement, Yara will where possible use its global sourcing and production system to optimise operations and meet customer demand, including continued nitrate production using imported ammonia when feasible, and continue to monitor the situation and adapt to market conditions.
Yara Sluiskil has already cut 3.4m tonnes of CO2 emissions per year from its ammonia and fertiliser production since 1990.
The triangular merger, whereby the intermediate company Yara Clean Ammonia NewCo is merged with Yara Clean Ammonia Holding, has now been completed in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises.