In another possible sign of the influence of the generous financial incentives of the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act, Norwegian fertiliser maker Yara and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge have announced they intend to build a ‘blue’ ammonia project at Corpus Christi, on the gulf coast of Texas.

A project budget of US$2.9 billion has been pencilled in, with production to start around 2027-8, at an eventual capacity of 1.2-1.4 million tonnes per annum. The project was planned before the announcement of the IRA (but while the 45Q tax incentives for carbon capture and storage were in place), though the strengthened incentives of the IRA has made it more likely that a positive final investment decision will be made. Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, president of Yara’s subsidiary Yara Clean Ammonia, told Reuters that the company has “focused on the United States for two reasons and the first is low energy prices, naturally, and the other is that carbon capture is accessible at an attractive cost.”

Yara would purchase all of the product from the plant if it goes ahead, some of it for use in the fertiliser chain and the rest of it sold to other markets, such as shipping fuel. The project is one of a reported 200 planned low-carbon ammonia projects across the world.