Romania’s fertiliser production is struggling
Despite a long history stretching back to the early 20th century, Romania’s fertiliser industry has significantly contracted since the end of the communist regime. Before 1989, Romania had 11 fertiliser plants, which have since then closed down as part of a prolonged deindustrialisation. Today, only the Azomureş plant in central Romania is still operational, and is considered pivotal to the national agricultural sector. It has an annual production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of nitrogen-based fertilisers and mostly serves domestic consumers.
Against the background of an already-increasing Europe-wide dependence on imported fertilisers, Romania’s dependence on imports from non-EU countries, including Russia, has also been increasing, and Azomureș is no exception. This highlights the importance of Romanian domestic fertiliser production for strategic autonomy as well as food security.
Azomureș is Romania’s largest industrial natural gas consumer, accounting for 10% of total national consumption, and a major carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter. As with all fertiliser producers, natural gas acts as the main feedstock and an important source of industrial heat for plant operations. Its reliance on natural gas has caused significant production issues in recent years, and in 2024, the plant temporarily halted production due to the surging gas prices. At the same time, as an industrial CO2 emitter it will be exposed to the full market price of carbon by 2034, when free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) are phased out. By 2050, Azomureș could be paying as much as €640 million in annual carbon costs to continue business-as-usual production.
Continuing fertiliser production based on current methods, with its natural gas dependency and associated CO2 emissions, is becoming increasingly challenging. An opportunity emerges to rethink conventional production processes to keep Romanian fertilisers competitive in a low-carbon world. However, transforming fertiliser production is a technological challenge, as it requires a change in the process of producing ammonia, the most important precursor to nitrogen-based fertilisers. Today, ammonia is manufactured using hydrogen conventionally produced through the steam methane reforming of natural gas. Overall, producing one tonne of ammonia consumes approx. 900 m3 of natural gas and generates approx. 1.6 tCO2, making it one of the most carbon-intensive production processes in the chemicals industry.
The two most prominent alternatives for ammonia production are “blue ammonia” (capturing the emissions from steam methane reforming to produce “blue hydrogen” as a precursor to ammonia), or “green ammonia” (producing “renewable hydrogen” through electrolysis using clean energy and using it to produce ammonia). Both alternatives come with challenges, not least the required capital investment and price premium associated with low-emissions hydrogen production. For now, the strategic objective of Azomureş is to continue conventional ammonia production. However, the company has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 60% by 2030, compared to 1990, and has indicated an interest in carbon capture and green hydrogen within the Territorial Just Transition Plan of Mureș county. Against a background of European self-sufficiency and low-carbon competitiveness, transforming fertiliser production at Azomureș will be essential to maintain domestic production, reduce dependence on fossil fuels and raw material imports, and place Romania as a key supplier in new business areas such as low-carbon shipping fuels. A clear vision will be needed for managing the trade-offs between the two main transition pathways and to weather both short-term shocks and ensure long-term viability.
Luciana Miu, EPG Head of Clean Economy
Luciana Miu is Head of Clean Economy at Energy Policy Group. She oversees the work of the Clean Economy division, including industrial decarbonisation, building energy efficiency, and climate governance and policy. Luciana also conducts in-depth research and stakeholder engagement primarily in the field of industrial decarbonisation and carbon capture and storage.
Luciana is an expert in industrial decarbonisation and building energy efficiency, with a focus on consumer behavior, systems thinking and policy. She is also trained in renewable energy engineering and a highly skilled communicator with significant experience in stakeholder engagement on sustainability projects. Luciana has extensive experience in data collection and analysis, including conducting nationally representative surveys and statistical analysis and modelling in STATA. She is also well-versed in behavioral frameworks and socio-technical systems approaches to sustainability.
She holds a PhD in energy efficiency from Imperial College London, and an MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems and BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD thesis has resulted in 3 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Energy Policy and Energy Research and Social Science.
Luciana is passionate about youth engagement in the energy transition, and is one of the founders of the European Youth Energy Network, the first network of youth-led, energy-focused organisations in the EU. She is a native speaker of Romanian and English, is fluent in French and has basic knowledge of German and Danish.
Contact: luciana.miu@epg-thinktank.org