All posts by hlancey@bloomberg.net

Hungary’s Nitrogénművek Restarts Production

Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, CAN-17, News Briefs, Nitrogen, UAN, Urea

Hungarian nitrogen fertilizer producer Nitrogénművek Zrt. restarted production at its Pétfürdő site in February, according to Bloomberg, citing the company’s Chief Strategy Officer Zoltan Bige.

The company said in December that it planned to import ammonia instead of producing it in order to avoid extra taxes on carbon emissions (GM Dec. 1, 2023).

Nitrogénművek produces anhydrous ammonia, CAN, ammonium nitrate, urea, and UAN, and is one of the biggest producers of ammonia and CAN in eastern Europe. The company’s website claims it has a 60% share of the Hungarian fertilizer market.

thyssenkrupp to Recommission Egypt Ammonia Plant

Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, Blue Ammonia, Egypt, News Briefs, Urea

thyssenkrupp Uhde Egypt on Feb. 22 announced that it has signed a contract with Egypt-based Delta Co. for Fertilizer and Chemical Industries to revamp an existing ammonia plant complex located in Dakahlia, Talkha, Egypt. thyssenkrupp said it will bring the ammonia plant back into operation, increase capacity and efficiency, and make it ready for blue ammonia production.

Responsible for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), thyssenkrupp Uhde will provide engineering for the revamp of the ammonia plant as well as the ammonia offsite and central utility units. The company will also supply its uhde® ammonia technology for the production of ammonia and urea.

Together with the FEED solution, thyssenkrupp said this technology will enable the plant to be recommissioned after a three-year shutdown, while at the same time increasing the plant’s capacity from 1,275 to 1,400 mt/d of ammonia.

Delta belongs to Egypt’s state-owned Holding Co. for Chemical Industries, which owns ammonia, urea, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate plants in Talkha, Egypt.

NextChem Gets Contract for Egyptian Urea Plant

Egypt, News Briefs, Urea

Milan-based MAIRE on Feb. 26 announced that NextChem (Sustainable Technology Solutions), through its nitrogen technology licensor Stamicarbon, has been awarded a licensing and equipment supply contract for a state-of-the-art urea melt and granulation plant in Egypt for El-Nasr Co. Intermediate Chemicals (NCIC).

The plant is expected to have a production capacity of 1,050 mt/d of urea and will be located in an area 100 kilometers southeast of Cairo. This is the second NCIC urea plant that will feature Stamicarbon’s granulation technology.

“This award is evidence of the reliability of our value proposition in offering nitrogen-based technology solutions worldwide,” said Alessandro Bernini, Maire CEO. “We are proud to contribute to NCIC’s industrial development plans in the fertilizer sector, thus consolidating our market leadership in licensing urea technology in Africa.”

South Harz Potash Signs MOU With Euroports

Brazil, Canada, Europe, Germany, News Briefs, Potash

Junior miner South Harz Potash Ltd. announced that it has executed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Euroports Germany GmbH & Co. KG and Euroports Belgium NV to discuss a potential long-term agreement for the storage, handling, and export of potash products from South Harz’s flagship Ohmgebirge Potash Development, located in central Germany, through one of Euroports’ operated facilities in Rostock (Germany) and/or Antwerp (Belgium).

“While we plan to sell much of our potash output from Ohmgebirge into proximate European demand, it is also anticipated that Ohmgebirge will supply key export markets such as Brazil and North America to account for seasonality,” said Luis da Silva, South Harz Managing Director and CEO.

“Being located close to existing port infrastructure delivers South Harz a substantial overland transport (and associated carbon emissions footprint) advantage relative to major established producers in Canada and eastern Europe, some of which need to rail product up to 2,000 kilometers to their export facilities,” da Silva said.

Russian Fertilizer Production Up 20% in January

Ammonia, News Briefs, Nitrogen, Phosphate, Russia

Russian fertilizer production in January increased 20% year-over-year and was up 1% from December 2023, reaching 2.4 million mt of active ingredient, according to an Interfax report, citing Russia’s State Statistics Service (Rosstat). Ammonia production in January increased 5% year-over-year and 2% month-over-month, to 1.6 million mt.

Potash production in January rose by 63.5% year-over-year, to 950,000 mt of active ingredient. Nitrogen fertilizer production also increased in January, to 1.1 million mt of active ingredient, while phosphate fertilizer production fell 2% compared with January last year, to 400,000 mt of active ingredient.

Nutrien Seeks to Meet Fertilizer Needs After Fire

Australia, News Briefs

Nutrien Ag Solutions has announced a broader plan to ensure farmers in Western Australia (WA) receive their fertilizer for the season ahead following an industrial fire at Kwinana Bulk Jetty on Feb. 9, including a new temporary arrangement with CSBP Fertilisers.

Nutrien Ag Solutions Region Director West Andrew Duperouzel said in a Feb. 8 media statement that the incident resulted in significant infrastructure damage that has created a number of challenges for port users. The fire also engulfed part of a warehouse storing bulk fertilizers and chemicals operated by Nutrien in Kwinana (GM Feb. 16, p. 33)

“The issues caused by the fire are not related to Nutrien’s supply and availability of product, rather the availability of port infrastructure at Kwinana to safely and efficiently offload and dispatch,” Duperouzel said. “The strength of Nutrien’s global supply chain means we have product in our storage and in transit on ships, so our priority is finding alternative ways to get this product to our customers in a timely manner.”

Nutrien Ag is also progressing discussions with relevant government stakeholders as its looks to increase tonnage at its other regional WA sites and confirm additional offsite storage and blending facilities.

The company said it has also reached a temporary arrangement with CSBP to address near-term offload, storage, and distribution needs. CSBP will be receiving and dispatching Nutrien’s imported product for two vessels that had been at Kwinana ready for discharge before the fire.

New Financing Allows Ardmore Expansion

Australia, News Briefs, Phosphate

Australian phosphate producer Centrex Ltd. on Feb. 29 announced that it has received credit approval from National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) for a ~A$10m secured financing package designated for the Ardmore Phosphate Mine. The company said it now has clear funding visibility to conclude Stage 1.5 expansion at Ardmore on budget and on schedule.

Upon completion of the expansion, Ardmore’s production run-rate will increase from the current ~240,000 mt/y to 625,000 mt/y by December 2024. Centrex said this substantial increase will significantly lift revenues while also reducing operating costs on a per-mt basis. It said it will cement the company’s position as a major and dependable supplier of rock phosphate in the key Asia-Pacific market.

OMEX Reports Record-Breaking UAN Cargo

News Briefs, UAN

OMEX Agriculture reported on Feb. 12 that it welcomed the largest ever liquid nitrogen raw material (UAN) vessel into the port of Dundee. The 49,999 DWT vessel, working with OMEX Agriculture, part-discharged its record-breaking shipment into OMEX’s Dundee port facility to ensure continued security of supply for Scottish farmers.

“This is a significant milestone for OMEX, which involved months of strategic planning from ourselves and Forth Ports, to enable a vessel of such volume to safely discharge at our dedicated Dundee facility,” said OMEX UK Operations Manager Robert Perry.

BP Selects BASF for Carbon Capture

Blue Hydrogen, Carbon, Europe, News Briefs

UK-based BP Plc has selected BASF’s OASE® white gas treating technology for the company’s H2Teesside blue hydrogen project. The technology’s carbon capture rate is up to 99.99%.

H2Teesside aims to be one of the UK’s largest blue hydrogen production facilities, targeting 1.2GW of hydrogen production by 2030, equating to over 10% of the UK government’s hydrogen target of 10GW by the same year.

“This agreement marks another critical milestone for H2Teesside as the project builds momentum and continues to move towards commercial operations, planned for 2028,” said Will Harrison-Cripps, H2Teesside Asset Development Lead. “Along with its sister project HyGreen Teesside, H2Teesside could play a critical role in decarbonizing industry and heavy transport on Teesside, helping to transform the region into a leading hydrogen hub and kickstart the UK’s low-carbon hydrogen economy.”

Carbon capture at H2Teesside could capture and send for storage approximately two million mt/y of CO2 via the BP-led Northern Endurance partnership, the CO2 transportation and storage company that will deliver the onshore and offshore infrastructure needed to capture carbon from a range of emitters across Teesside and the Humber.

In October 2023, BP also announced that it had signed a licensing and engineering agreement for Johnson Matthey’s LCH blue hydrogen technology, which will enable the hydrogen production element of the process.

Enaex, NYK Ink MOU for Low-Carbon Ammonia

Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, Chile, Japan, News Briefs

Enaex SA, a Chilean ammonium nitrate producer, and NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers Ltd. (NBP), a member of the Tokyo-based NYK Group, on Feb. 21 announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly research the feasibility of supplying low-carbon ammonia to ammonia-fueled ships.

NBP will build 10-15 ammonia-fueled Handymax bulkers in the late 2020s and beyond to transport copper products from Chile to the Far East for Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), a world-leading copper producer. The first of the ships is expected to arrive in 2027.

Enaex and NBP will work out the details to supply low-carbon ammonia to the vessels at their Mejillones ammonia terminal in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. Enaex said it has already reduced CO2 emissions more than 90% in its production process.

“Going further along this path, we are now focused on collaborating in the reduction of emissions in the transportation of raw materials,” said Juan Andrés Errázuriz, Enaex CEO. “Our company already has experience in the transport and production of low-carbon ammonia. At our Cachimayo plant in Peru, we are producing green ammonia and we have also imported blue ammonia from the United States.”

According to the new carbon neutrality goals established by the International Maritime Organization, the shipping industry is projected to be one of the largest consumers of low-carbon ammonia in the future.