*
Plant to provide 1.2-1.4 mln tons of ammonia per yr
*
Yara attracted by low US gasoline costs, carbon seize price
*
Manufacturing begin up set for 2027-28
(Provides Yara Clear Ammonia head, element)
By Victoria Klesty
OSLO, March 31 (Reuters) – Norway’s Yara and Canada’s Enbridge plan to speculate as much as $2.9 billion to construct a low-carbon blue ammonia manufacturing plant in Texas, they stated on Friday.
Blue ammonia, slightly than inexperienced ammonia derived from renewable power, refers to ammonia produced from pure gasoline, with the carbon dioxide (CO2) byproduct captured and saved.
The plant, which will likely be Yara’s largest, is to be constructed on the Enbridge Ingleside Vitality Heart close to Corpus Christi, with the beginning of manufacturing deliberate for 2027-28, the businesses stated.
Yara, which already has a majority stake in a facility in Freeport additional alongside the Gulf coast, is the most recent European firm to announce a serious funding in america.
Whereas the challenge was deliberate lengthy earlier than final yr’s U.S. Inflation Discount Act (IRA), the rise in carbon storage tax credit in that act has made it much more enticing, the Norwegian firm stated.
Yara additionally goals to make the most of low U.S. gasoline costs, stated Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, president of Yara Clear Ammonia.
“We have targeted on america for 2 causes and the primary is low power costs, naturally, and the opposite is that carbon seize is accessible at a gorgeous price,” he instructed Reuters.
Fertiliser maker Yara intends to purchase all the plant’s output and goals to provide low-carbon ammonia as a feedstock in its world manufacturing system, together with Europe, in addition to serving new clear ammonia markets corresponding to delivery gasoline.
The plant will be capable to provide 1.2 million to 1.4 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per yr.
About 95% of the CO2 generated from the manufacturing course of is anticipated to be captured and transported to close by everlasting geologic storage.
The Oslo-listed agency final yr minimize a lot of its European manufacturing, citing excessive power prices, and at present imports about 1 million tonnes of ammonia to Europe per yr.
Excessive gasoline costs in Europe have made the case to construct within the U.S. stronger, Ankarstrand stated.
“However costs within the U.S. have been enticing for a very long time, and as well as there’s already a tax credit score in place for carbon seize within the U.S.,” he stated.
The IRA, handed final yr, gives corporations a tax credit score of as a lot as $85 per ton of captured carbon saved underground.
“What occurred with the Inflation Discount Act after the summer season has made this funding much more enticing,” Ankarstrand stated. (Reporting by Victoria Klesty and Terje Solsvik Enhancing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
