LSB Industries Inc. today announced that it expects to complete the installation of a new ammonia converter and resume production at its Pryor, Okla., chemical facility in the first half of February 2013. As announced on Nov. 21, 2012, the company had stopped production at the Pryor to perform unplanned maintenance on a compressor, as well as for the planned installation of a new ammonia converter designed to improve and increase ammonia production capacity. The company initially anticipated an outage of approximately six to eight weeks; however, while the compressor maintenance has been completed, delay in the delivery of certain components related to the converter installation has pushed out by approximately four weeks the expected timeframe for restarting Pryor. The company estimated that the adverse effect of this downtime on operating income is approximately $2 million per week until production resumes.
Additionally, LSB provided an update on its Cherokee Nitrogen facility in Alabama, following its Nov. 14, 2012 announcement that Cherokee suffered a pipe rupture that damaged the heat exchanger portion of its ammonia plant. Since that time, Cherokee has been producing nitric acid and ammonium nitrate at the targeted production level, using purchased ammonia feedstock. Management expects repairs to be completed and production to be resumed within the previously estimated three to five month range.