Yara to invest in blue ammonia capacity in U.S. 

By Aida Čučuk
26 June 2023

As part of its journey to decarbonize agriculture and serve clean ammonia segments, Norwegian fertilizer company Yara has announced it will boost its clean ammonia operations by investing in blue ammonia capacity in the U.S.

Illustration; Courtesy of Yara

Yara noted its ambition is to be the leading distributor across green, blue and grey ammonia, both for fertilizer production and for Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA) customer segments such as shipping and energy.

To note, Yara’s ambition is to become carbon neutral by 2050, and to reach it, the company said it is working on a roadmap which includes improving nitrogen use efficiency as a key decarbonization lever for the fertilizer industry.

President & CEO of Yara International ASA Svein Tore Holsether commented: “The Inflation Reduction Act makes the U.S. a highly attractive location to produce decarbonized ammonia. Exporting this decarbonized ammonia from the U.S. to the European market, matched with the flexibility of Yara’s European production assets, enables cost-effective decarbonization of fertilizer production. These are highly attractive investments, and that’s before considering the immeasurable cost of not achieving the climate goals.”

In regard to YCA, Yara confirmed the viability of a potential minority divestment of YCA. However, it pointed out that timing will be postponed as the YCA project portfolio attractiveness surpasses its current market valuation, and major capital outlays are planned from 2025 onwards.

This year, YCA entered numerous ammonia projects, including a collaboration on the development of the market for clean ammonia as a shipping fuel with marine fuels trader Bunker Holding Group. In April, it also joined forces with Germany-based gas company VNG, and in March, it teamed up with Canadian pipeline and energy company Enbridge for a blue ammonia project in the U.S.