Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), Rio de Janeiro, has terminated negotiations with Russia’s Acron Group without a deal being concluded for the sale of its 100 percent stakes in the nitrogen fertilizer plant Araucária Nitrogenados SA (ANSA), in Paraná state, and the still-to-be completed Unidade de Fertilizantes Nitrogenados III (UFN-III) nitrogen fertilizer plant at Três Lagoas in Mato Grosso do Sul state, according to a Bloomberg report, citing a Petrobras filing.

OCI NV, Amsterdam, remained in the negative column during the third quarter, reporting a net loss attributable to shareholders of $182.5 million, and deepening the net loss of a year-ago of $15.0 million. Third-quarter adjusted net loss attributable to shareholders came in at $119.7 million versus a $14.5 million net loss in the same prior-year period.

Revenues were down 18 percent at $633.9 million, from $773.5 million a year-ago. EBITDA came in 50 percent lower at $105.8 million against the previous year’s $213.1 million, while adjusted EBITDA was 53 percent off at $107.2 million, down from $229.9 million.

The company cited lower production resulting from planned turnarounds and debottlenecking programs at 11 plants across four nitrogen production sites, together with lower methanol and ammonia prices as the primary drivers behind the downturn in quarterly EBITDA compared with a year-ago.

The results were also adversely impacted by an unplanned shutdown at the OCI’s Natgasoline methanol plant in Beaumont, Texas, from August to the beginning of November. That shutdown is covered by insurance. Third-quarter OCI-produced volumes sold decreased 5 percent to 2.2 million mt. Own-produced fertilizer sales were 13 percent lower at 1.61 million mt.

OCI NV today also announced it had appointed Ahmed El-Hoshy as the new Group Chief Operating Officer (COO), with immediate effect. El-Hoshy will oversee all commercial, operational, and other business activities. He currently is CEO of OCI Americas.

PhosAgro, Moscow,  reported a 25 percent increase in third-quarter net income to RUB9.76 billion on revenues of RUB64.55 billion ($1.0 billion), up from the year-ago RUB7.8 billion and RUB62.68 billion, respectively. However, net income adjusted for non-cash foreign exchange items fell by 8 percent to RUB11.8 billion ($183 million), versus the prior-year’s RUB12.86 billion.

Third-quarter EBITDA was 9 percent off at RUB21.3 billion ($330 million), down from RUB23.39 billion a year-ago, due to a correction in global fertilizer prices, the group said in its report.

Revenues were 3 percent up, driven mainly by higher sales to Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Koch Biological Solutions LLC and Plant Response Biotech, a biotechnology company based in Spain, announced on Nov. 19 that they have combined operations to form Plant Response Biotech Inc. The new company will be headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., with R&D operations in Hayward, Calif., as well as EMEA R&D and commercial operations headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

Awards in the RTF tender have hit 1.7 million tons. Sources said the purchase will most likely mean there will be no urea tender from India in December.

Material from traders is priced at $251.37/mt CFR for the East Coast and $248.38/mt CFR for the West Coast, reflecting a drop in the delivered price of about $20/mt. Urea offered directly from Arab Gulf producers is pegged at $234/mt FOB for a drop in price of about $6/mt.

Shipping is to be done by December 19.