Ludwigshafen, Germany—BASF SE is reportedly considering an offer to purchase DuPont Co., according to Bloomberg, although most financial analysts believe any potential deal is a longshot given that DuPont has already agreed to a merger with Dow Chemical Co. (GM Dec. 14, 2015). Sources told Bloomberg that BASF has made no formal approach to DuPont and neither company confirmed that negotiations were underway, but BASF reportedly did engage in discussions with DuPont before the merger with Dow was announced on Dec. 11. BASF is the world’s largest chemical company but has no seed business, and trails Syngenta AG and Bayer AG as the third largest producer of crop protection chemicals. A merger with DuPont would enlarge its agricultural chemical offerings and make it the second-largest producer of seed, behind Monsanto Co. The merger stakes were reportedly upped for BASF when Syngenta announced on Feb. 3 (GM Feb. 5, p. 18) that it was being acquired by China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) in a transaction valued at more than US$43 billion (US$465 per ordinary share). Analysts say a BASF/DuPont combination would face significant regulatory hurdles, however, and DuPont would likely have to pay Dow a termination fee of $1.9 billion if it decides to back out of their merger deal. Sources say BASF may opt instead to pursue some segment of DowDupont Inc. after the merged company splits off its agriculture, specialty chemicals, and materials segments as planned. Dow and DuPont’s merger of equals is the largest deal ever in the chemical industry, creating the world’s largest agriculture business and the second-largest chemical company, after BASF.

Des Moines, Iowa—Des Moines Water Works (DMWW), the water utility that last year filed a lawsuit against three neighboring counties for polluting the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers with high levels of nitrates from farm runoff (GM Jan. 19, 2015), announced that it will begin later this summer to route the waste water from its nitrate removal system to the city’s sanitary sewer system for further treatment instead of pumping it back into the Raccoon River downstream of Des Moines. The $1.3 million project, which involves construction of an underground pipeline beneath the Raccoon River to the sewer treatment facility, will end DMWW’s procedure of dumping nitrate-laden water back into the river, a disposal method the utility was criticized for but has used for at least 20 years under a permit approved by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The board overseeing DMWW also recently approved a five-year capital improvements plan that designates $241 million in system maintenance and expansion, roughly $70 million of which is designated for nitrate removal measures. The funds will reportedly be used to expand DMWW’s current denitrification facility instead of spending $176 million to build a new one. DMWW’s lawsuit against the boards of supervisors for Sac, Buena Vista, and Calhoun counties is ongoing, and charges that the elevated nitrate levels in the rivers are caused by the “extensive system of drainage infrastructure,” or field tiles, used on fertilized farmland in these districts, which “quickly transport nitrate by groundwater to the nearest waterway, bypassing natural absorption and de-nitrification processes that would otherwise protect the watersheds.” The suit has been criticized by opponents as an attack on agriculture, and represents a pivotal test for the Clean Water Act’s provision that exempts agriculture as a non-point source polluter. Both state and national organizations have weighed in on the case (GM March 16, 2015), including the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, numerous state crop and livestock associations, and The Fertilizer Institute (TFI).

Houston—KBR Inc. said March 9 it has been awarded a new contract for proprietary equipment and also has restarted work under the contract awarded by Italy’s Tecnimont SpA previously announced in December 2011 for the License and Basic Engineering Design (BED) of a new ammonia plant to be built at Aswan in Egypt (GM Dec. 30, 2011). Under the original project plans, the unit was to have a 1,200 mt/d capacity. The restarted project is to be built by Egypt’s Chemical Industries Holding Co. (Kima) as part of its Kima 2 complex, which will include a urea melt unit and a granulation unit. KBR is providing Tecnimont with post-BED support and proprietary equipment for the new ammonia plant. The plant is being built on a fast-track basis and will support regional development plans in Aswan, as well as Egypt’s drive to build modern fertilizer complexes, KBR said. The ammonia project is expected to reach provisional acceptance in 34 months. Revenue associated with the project is undisclosed.

Saskatchewan—BHP Billiton Ltd. has cut its capital expenditure on its Jansen Potash Project in Saskatchewan from US$330 million last fiscal year to about US$200 million this year, the president of BHP’s Canadian unit, Giles Hellyer, told Bloomberg late this week. The effect of cutting the rate of expenditure on Jansen will push the timeline for the completion of the production and service shafts from 2017/18 to 2018/19, he said. Jansen was 54 percent complete as of Dec. 31, 2015 (GM Jan. 28, p. 15). BHP has committed US$3.75 billion to acquiring land, sinking, and lining the two shafts and building some of the above-ground infrastructure for the project, but it has not made a final investment decision on Jansen, which would produce upwards of 8 million mt/y of potash. Last month, CEO Andrew Mackenzie said BHP still wants to build the mine despite a severe bear market for the crop nutrient, but the group probably will not be ready for a push to production until the potash market recovers, which BHP does not see happening until the 2020s (GM Feb. 26, p. 16).

Nairobi—The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) on March 7 raided the offices of Mea Ltd. and Yara East Africa, a unit of Yara International, due to suspicion of price fixing, according to the Kenyan Business Daily, which reported estimates that the two control about 60 percent of the Kenyan fertilizer market. Yara confirmed that it is under investigation, and said it cooperated fully with CAK. “Yara only supports compliant and ethical business at all times, and we will contribute to ensuring the fertilizer industry is driven towards supporting and improving the profits of the Kenyan farmers,” a company spokesman told Green Markets.

Kassel—A German court will widen its investigation into whether to extend a saline wastewater disposal permit for K+S AG, the country’s WirtschaftsWoche weekly magazine reported on March 9. The move by the Administrative Court in Kassel to extend the probe follows charges filed last week by Meiningen town prosecutors against 14 people at the company, including chairman of K+S’s Board of Executive Directors, Norbert Steiner, over alleged illegal saline wastewater disposal and water pollution (GM March 4, p. 16). The charges relate to the injection of wastewater into the Gerstungen trough between 1999 and 2007. In a statement last week, K+S said it remains convinced that it lawfully obtained the permit for the injection of saline wastewater into the Gerstungen trough for the years in question and has said previously it is cooperatively fully with the investigators (GM March 4, p. 16). The company secured provisional approval from the Kassel Regional Council in December to resume the injection of saline wastewater from the Werra plant until Dec. 31, 2016, to a limited extent, after its previous water-law permit expired at the end of November (GM Jan. 1, p. 13). This week, K+S said that up to now it hardly has had to interrupt production since the water levels of the Werra River are sufficient to be able to discharge saline wastewater. But once late spring arrives and there is less rainfall, it is possible, it warned, that it will have to halt production, at least at times. The company said it expects a final decision this summer on its application to continue injection until the end of 2021.

Santiago—Chile would not block a foreign takeover of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (SQM), according to the country’s Mining Minister, Aurora Williams, speaking at the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto on March 6. Sociedad de Inversiones Oro Blanco SA, an indirect shareholder in SQM, in December put up for sale its entire 88.62 percent stake in Sociedad de Inversiones Pampa Calichera SA, which in turn owns a 21.66 percent interest in SQM (GM Jan. 1, p. 14). According to Oro Blanco, China’s CITIC CLSA Capital Markets Ltd. indicated its intention to participate in the shareholding sale process (GM Jan. 1, p. 14). Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., which already owns a 32 holding in SQM, has attempted to gain control of the company in the past.

Tel Aviv—Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry has decided to postpone the bid deadline for a new ammonia plant in southern Israel until mid-May. The ministry set May 16 as the final day for bids to be presented. The initial deadline had been set for the end of March. The ministry said that the government tenders committee is studying various issues presented by potential bidders in the process in an effort to reduce the risks involved with the project. The ministry specifically cited the price of natural gas, and said that discussions were underway in an effort to improve the conditions in order to shut down the ammonia storage facility in Haifa. Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabbai has requested Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz to suggest a solution to the price issue regarding gas from the Tamar offshore field that would be allocated for the ammonia facility, as well as availability of gas. The Energy and Water Ministry is working on a formula that would allow for the subsidizing of the gas price for the ammonia plant. Israeli domestic gas prices were fixed a year ago in line with a reform of the gas sector. This has presented a problem, as they are substantially higher than current international prices, making the viability of the proposed ammonia plant questionable. The other issue is whether sufficient gas supplies will be available for the plant if it comes online in three years’ time and before the larger Leviathan offshore field is developed. In any case, the delay of the tender closing will lead to a further delay in the shutdown of the storage facility in Haifa – until late 2018 at the very earliest. Fears have recently been heightened due to threats from Hezbollah that it might bomb the storage tank (GM Feb. 19, p. 13).

Tel Aviv—The Knesset Economics Committee has come out strongly against plans to mine phosphates at Sde Barir near Arad in southern Israel. Committee Chairman Eitan Cable said he would do everything possible to prevent mining operations at the site. Knesset Member Tamar Zandberg said the government support for the project was due to intense lobbying by Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), and did not take into account the health and environmental issues. The committee also heard from ICL Rotem Amfert Deputy Director for Ecology Uri Yassur, who defended the National Planning Commission’s decision to permit mining operations (GM Dec. 7, 2015), stating that he has lived in Arad for 30 years and is very familiar with all of the data regarding impact of phosphate mining on health. He added there is no substantive proof that there is any impact. The head of the Natural Resources Administration in the Energy and Water Ministry said that mining operations at Sde Barir are still several years off, and that in any case a detailed environmental impact survey would be submitted before any mining operations commenced. ICL has made it clear that it will be forced to shut down its fertilizer operations in Israel unless the Sde Barir mining project is implemented.