PetroChina, one of China’s leading oil and gas companies, reported on Nov. 13 that it has stopped supplying natural gas to fertilizer producer Cangzhou Dahua Co. Ltd. due to a country-wide fuel shortage heading into winter. Gas supplies are instead being funneled to residential and transportation uses.
Cangzhou Dahua said the idled gas supply would lead to a production halt at its facilities in the Hebie province. It did not say how long the gas suspension would last, but reported that it would conduct equipment maintenance during the shutdown.
Cangzhou Dahua Group Co. Ltd., a state-owned subsidiary of China National Chemical Corp., has six subsidiaries with total production capacity of 580,000 mt/y of urea, 360,000 mt/y of synthetic ammonia, 30,000 mt/y of concentrated nitric acid, and 50,000 mt/y of ammonia. It is also one of China’s largest toluene-diisocyanate (TDI) producers, with annual capacity pegged at 150,000 mt/y. Cangzhou Dahua’s total 2013 urea production to date stands at 465,000 mt. In 2012, the company produced 512,000 mt of urea.
Both PetroChina and the country’s other major energy provider, Sinopec Corp., say they will boost gas supplies in the coming months by maximizing domestic production or raising imports. Sinopec also said it would free up gas supplies over winter partly by cutting deliveries to its vinylon plant in the southwestern province of Sichuan.