Northern Lights and Yara sign binding agreement on CO2 transport and storage
November 20, 2023
On the opening day of European Hydrogen Week, Northern Lights and Yara International signed a binding commercial transport and storage agreement with the ambition to capture and store 800,000 tonnes CO2 from the ammonia production in Sluiskil from 2026. In August 2022, the parties agreed on the main terms, representing the world’s first commercial CCS agreement. The CO2 will be liquefied and shipped from the Netherlands to permanent storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf by Northern Lights.
“This is a milestone for decarbonising hard-to-abate industry in Europe and for Yara it’s an important step towards decarbonising our ammonia production, product lines and the food-value chain at large”, says Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Yara International.
“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”, says Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights.
CCS is key to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries in Europe
In the roadmap to net zero by 2050, updated in September 2023, the International Energy Agency estimates that carbon capture and storage will account for 8% of the cumulative emissions reductions globally. According to the IEA, if all announced CCS projects are realised, global carbon capture capacity could reach net zero levels by 2030.
As the European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson stated during the CCUS Forum in Oslo last year; “without CCS and CCU, it will be practically impossible to limit the global warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius objective”. CCS provides European industry with a realistic decarbonisation solution to reduce climate emissions. The agreement between Northern Lights and Yara contributes to kickstarting a commercial market for CCS services in Europe.
“Norway has the potential to provide Europe with significant CO2 storage, which will help the EU to reach their climate targets. It is a safe and efficient way to handle emissions and this agreement demonstrates that”, says Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights.
Northern Lights and Yara signed the agreement in the presence of Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Terje Aasland, during the opening day of European Hydrogen Week in Brussels. Photo: Innovation Norway.
The Northern Lights onshore facilities that will receive CO2 from Yara Sluiskil in 2026. Photo: Svein Ove Søreide.
The CO2 will arrive the onshore facilities by ship and be stored intermediately onshore before it is transported by pipeline for injection in the reservoir 2.6 kilometres under the seabed in the North Sea. Photo: Svein Ove Søreide.
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 2022, Yara reported revenues of USD 24 billion.
About Yara Clean Ammonia
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 pro-duction and ammonia for industrial applications.
Yara Clean Ammonia operates the largest global ammonia network with 15 ships and access to 18 ammonia terminals and multiple ammonia production and consumption sites across the world, through Yara. Revenues and EBITDA for the full year 2022 were USD 4,422 million and USD 249 million respectively. Yara Clean Ammonia is headquartered in Oslo, Norway
About Northern Lights
Northern Lights is developing the world’s first cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure. Delivering CO2 transport and storage as a service, Northern Lights enables mitigation of industrial emissions that cannot be avoided and accelerates the decarbonisation of European industry.
Drawing on experience from over 25 years of CO2 storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Northern Lights are at the forefront of developing CCS technologies. The company will transport liquefied CO2 from capture sites to an onshore receiving terminal in western Norway, before transporting it by pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 metres under the seabed. CCS is a necessary climate solution to decarbonise industry and reduce or remove industrial CO2 emissions.
On schedule to be ready to receive CO2 in 2024, Northern Lights offers safe and reliable CO2 transport and storage services to industrial emitters in Norway and across Europe. Northern Lights JV DA is a registered, incorporated General Partnership with Shared Liability (DA) owned by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell.
