August 29, 2022
Major milestone for decarbonizing Europe
Watch the press conference held on 29th August 2022
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, this will be the first ever cross border CO2 transport and storage agreement. 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 decarbonization strategies.
Decarbonizing heavy industry with CCS to reach climate goals
Yara Sluiskil has already cut 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year from its ammonia and fertilizer production since 1990. Significant volumes of carbon dioxide 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.
“Action to decarbonize industry is urgent and Yara is a frontrunner. I am very pleased to announce that we are now on our way to removing CO2 emissions from our production plant in Sluiskil. This will take us a step further towards carbon-free food production and accelerate the supply of clean ammonia for fuel and power production,” said Svein Tore Holsether, CEO Yara International ASA.
“Yara is our first commercial customer, filling our available capacity in Northern Lights. 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”, said Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights.
Safe and proven capture, transport, and storage of CO2
Northern Lights is the transport and storage part of the Longship project, funded 80% by the Norwegian government. 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 decarbonization option and solutions to replicate.
About Northern Lights
Northern Lights 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 2,600 metres under the seabed. Operations are scheduled to start in 2024. The facilities are under construction and will enable Northern Lights to offer a safe and reliable shipping and storage service to industrial emitters from across Europe. With increased interest from industrial sectors in Europe, additional shipping and storage capacity will be developed as demand grows. Northern Lights JV DA is a registered, incorporated General Partnership with Shared Liability (DA) owned equally by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies. https://norlights.com/
About Yara
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara’s ambition is focused on growing a nature positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.
To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.
Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2021, Yara reported revenues of USD 16.6 billion. https://www.yara.com
About Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA)
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Yara Clean Ammonia is uniquely positioned to enable the hydrogen economy in a market expected to grow substantially over the next decades. We aim at significantly strengthening our leading global position as the world’s largest ammonia distributor, unlocking the green and blue value chains, and driving the development of clean ammonia globally.
Building on Yara’s leading experience within global ammonia production, logistics and trade, Yara Clean Ammonia works towards capturing growth opportunities in low-emission fuel for shipping and power, carbon-free food production and ammonia for industrial applications.
Yara Clean Ammonia operates the largest global ammonia network with 12 ships and has access to 18 ammonia terminals and multiple ammonia production and consumption sites across the world, through Yara. Revenues and EBITDA for the last 12 months were USD 3,638 million and USD 172 million respectively as per Q2 2022. Yara Clean Ammonia is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. https://www.yaracleanammonia.com
