Covestro, Fertiglobe, MB Energy team up on ammonia supply to Germany

Polymer and plastics manufacturer Covestro could offtake ammonia from Abu Dhabi’s Fertiglobe via MB Energy’s planned import terminal in Hamburg, Germany, under a new three-way tie-up.

A new memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlines the trio’s evaluation of imports through MB’s proposed 600,000-tonne-per-year ammonia import terminal in the Port of Hamburg, which recently secured from local authorities.

Fertiglobe, which did not specify details of the ammonia’s potential source, was the first winner of the pilot , where it secured a €397m ($432m) contract to supply green ammonia from its Egypt Green Hydrogen Project to Germany.

The trio, however, said it would assess supplying grey ammonia, alongside “lower carbon and renewable” volumes.

The new collaboration could also see Fertiglobe buy equity in the import terminal which, while by Hamburg’s city authorities in April, remains subject to a final investment decision.

The EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) now penalises the import of high-carbon ammonia, incentivising European consumers to find greener overseas sources of the molecule.

Dr Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro, called low-carbon ammonia an “essential building block” for decarbonising the chemical industry and said securing it reliably and competitively is a “strategic priority” for the company.

Green ammonia is also gaining traction as a decarbonisation pathway in sectors like shipping and power generation, as well as being increasingly considered as a carrier for transporting hydrogen.

Uniper sufficient reservations for its own proposed German ammonia import terminal to justify advancing it.