CF Industries, Japanese partners to build $4B ‘blue’ ammonia plant in Ascension Parish

By Greg LaRose
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — The world’s largest “blue” ammonia plant will be built in Ascension Parish and create more than 100 permanent jobs, Gov. Jeff Landry and the companies involved announced on Tuesday (April 8). CF Industries, which has teased the project since 2023, revealed its funding partners that intend to move the development forward.

CF Industries already operates the largest existing ammonia and nitrogen plant in Donaldsonville, where it has manufactured the main components of agricultural fertilizer since the early 1970s. Its new $4 billion facility will annually produce 1.4 million metric tons of blue ammonia, which is produced using carbon capture technology to store its greenhouse gas emissions.

Tony Will, CF Industries president and CEO, said the new plant will supplement the existing ammonia production site that will also sequester the carbon dioxide it produces. The company ultimately plans to invest in green ammonia production, which uses only renewable power sources and is carbon neutral, he added. 

CF Industries is partnering on the project with JERA Co. Inc, a Japanese ammonia producer, and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based diversified trading and investment company. Yukio Kani, JERA’s global chairman and CEO, said his company is investing $1.4 billion in what will be called the Blue Point Complex. 

JERA already does business with Louisiana’s liquified natural gas export facilities, Kani added. 

Gov. Jeff Landry heralded last Tuesday’s news as another example of Louisiana “winning” in the economic development realm. It comes on the heels of Hyundai’s announcement late last month at the White House that it will build a $5.8 billion steel mill in Ascension Parish to support its U.S. auto manufacturing sites.

“We are living up to the promises we made when we started to focus on business and industries that built this state,” the governor said. 

The Blue Point Complex will be built near the Hyundai plant on the west bank of Ascension Parish, in the 17,000-plus-acre RiverPlex MegaPark north of Donaldsonville.

Salaries will average $110,000 for the 103 permanent jobs the CF Industries plant will create, according to Louisiana Economic Development (LED). Construction of the facility will result in some 1,500 construction jobs, on top of the 5,000 for the Hyundai steel mill.

The blue ammonia plant is expected to become operational by 2029, according to CF Industries.

LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois confirmed area community and technical colleges will be tapped to train the workforce needed for the CF Industries and Hyundai projects, including their permanent hires.

To lure the project to Louisiana, the state offered CF Industries a $6 million performance-based grant for the money it spends on project development and infrastructure. The company will also participate in the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which provides a break on local property taxes, and is expected to use the Quality Jobs program that refunds payroll taxes for new positions created.

The governor said CF Industries has reached an agreement to make an up front payment to Ascension Parish in lieu of paying property taxes. Terms of that PILOT arrangement weren’t immediately available.  

Will said CF Industries chose the Donaldsonville site because of Louisiana’s skilled workforce, strategic infrastructure, abundant natural resources and access to carbon capture capabilities. 

Asked what impact the Trump administration’s far-reaching import tariffs might have on the project, Will said foreign components for the facility aren’t expected to arrive in Louisiana for another three years. 

“My hope is that between now and then progress has been made on the international trade front,” Will said.

The Blue Point Complex is arguably the most significant development in the ammonia marketplace since the European Union put in place its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism almost two years ago. 

The CBAM policy is intended to prevent so-called “carbon leakage,” which happens when industry moves operations to a country with more lax environmental laws. The mechanism adds a cost to imported goods that accounts for their carbon emissions.

This article originally published in the April 14, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.