All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

CF Collaborates with ExxonMobil, EnLink in CO2 Capture, Transport, Storage

Blue Ammonia, Carbon Dioxide, Featured, Louisiana, News

CF Industries Holdings Inc. on Oct. 12 said that it has entered into the largest-of-its-kind commercial agreement with ExxonMobil to capture and permanently store up to 2 million mt of CO2 emissions annually from its Donaldsonville, La., manufacturing facility. Start-up for the project is scheduled for early 2025.

“CF Industries is pleased to partner with ExxonMobil through this definitive CO2 offtake agreement, accelerating our decarbonization journey and supporting Louisiana’s and the country’s climate goals,” said Tony Will, CF President and CEO.

“This agreement also ensures that we remain at the forefront of the developing clean energy economy. As we leverage proven carbon capture and sequestration technology, CF Industries will be first-to-market with a significant volume of blue ammonia. This will enable us to supply this low-carbon energy source to hard-to-abate industries that increasingly view it as critical to their own decarbonization goals,” he continued.

CF expects to market up to 1.7 million mt/y of blue ammonia.

As previously announced, CF is investing $200 million to build a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at the Donaldsonville facility to enable captured CO2 to be transported and stored (GM Aug. 12, p. 29). ExxonMobil will then transport and permanently store the captured CO2 in secure geologic storage it owns in Vermilion Parish. ExxonMobil plans to develop a 125,000-acre CO2 storage location in the parish.

As part of the project, ExxonMobil has signed an agreement with EnLink Midstream to use EnLink’s transportation network to deliver CO2 to storage. EnLink already has a system of over 4,000 miles of pipeline in the state.

The parties said the captured emissions will be equivalent to replacing approximately 700,000 gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles.

Euro Gas Risks Under Spotlight Again; Pipeline Repairs to Take at Least a Year

Europe, Featured, Natural Gas, News, Northwestern Europe, Norway, Russia

European anxieties about the safety of infrastructure supplying natural gas to the continent took a further rattling on Oct. 13 after a bomb threat against the Nyhamna processing facility in central Norway.

Operated by Shell Plc, gas is piped to the onshore Nyhamna facility from Norway’s Ormen Lange deepwater facility off the coast, and supplies around 20% of the UK’s gas needs.

The threat turned out to be a hoax, with the country’s grid operator confirming there was no disruption to gas transport, output was normal, and workers had returned to the site.

Benchmark gas futures on the Dutch TTF in Amsterdam jumped as much as 9.2% on fears over the Norwegian projects, and the UK equivalent contract as much as 12%.By close on Oct. 13, the TTF front-month contract (currently November) had eased back to €153.86 per megawatt-hour (MWh), down 3.952% on the day. The UK front-month (also November) has eased 5.75% by close, to finish at 277 UK pence/therm.

“Any concerns over Norwegian deliveries, which have become Europe’s largest single source of gas supply since Russia’s weaponization of gas exports, will play into very significant price spikes,” said Energy Aspects consultancy’s Head of European Gas James Waddell, as cited by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Russian state-owned gas major Gazprom PJSC has said repairing the damaged Nord Stream pipelines would take at least a year, and that Russia still had not been granted access to the area of damage.

Gazprom Head Alexey Miller made the comments on Oct. 12 at the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow, as cited by a Reuters report.

Four leaks were detected on Sept. 26 and 27 on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which run parallel with each other under the Baltic Sea carrying Russian gas to Europe via Germany, after explosions were heard (GM Sept. 30, p. 1). Two of the leaks were in Danish waters and two in Swedish waters north of the Danish Island of Bornholm.

Several governments believed the damage was “deliberate” and “an act of sabotage,” with many pointing the finger at Moscow. Swedish investigators completing their preliminary investigation last week said detonations caused the ruptures to the pipelines, “with evidence pointing to a deliberate act,” according to a Bloomberg report (GM Oct. 7, p. 1).

Sweden, Denmark, and Germany late this week were reported to have voided a joint Nord Stream probe, opting to do their own investigations, citing concerns over the investigation’s secrecy, according to a Prime news report.

While the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines had not been transporting gas, both contained gas at the time of the leaks.

The Kremlin said claims that Russia was behind a possible attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines were “predictably stupid.”

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Russian Energy Week conference, said any energy infrastructure in the world is at risk, and reiterated the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines were “an act of terror” that set “the most dangerous precedent,” Bloomberg reported.

Putin blamed the sabotage to the Nord Stream pipelines on the US, Ukraine, and Poland, calling them “beneficiaries” of the blasts that caused the gas leaks, according to the report.

The president said Russia is ready to supply gas to Europe via a second thread of Nord Stream 2. But any start of flows through the pipeline would require approval from the European Union and remains unlikely amid the deepening tensions between Moscow and the West.

Russian gas flows through Nord Stream 1, the key pipeline bringing Russian gas to Europe via Germany, have been halted since Aug. 31 (GM Sept. 2, p. 35), while Nord Stream 2 has never started up commercial operation.

The Gazprom head at the Russian Energy Week conference warned Europe of the consequences of renouncing Russian gas, saying the continent “could still freeze” during a severe cold snap this winter despite the continent having almost filled its gas storage facilities, Bloomberg reported.

Citing the work of unidentified analysts, Miller said during days of peak winter demand, Europe could lack some 800 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, or one third of its total consumption.

Russia has been cutting gas deliveries to the continent for some months amid deteriorating relations between the West and Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Gazprom previously supplied Europe between 600 million and 1.7 billion cubic meters per day during the period of peak winter demand, Miller said, as cited by the Bloomberg report.

Poland’s Grupa Azoty Resumes Production

News, News Briefs, Nitrogen, Poland

Polish fertilizers and chemicals group Grupa Azoty SA said it was restarting production at its nitrogen fertilizer, caprolactam, and polyamide 6 units in Tarnów as of Oct. 12, in response to a change in market conditions.

The units have been temporarily shut down since Aug. 23 due to the record high natural gas prices (GM Aug. 26, p. 1).

The management of Grupa Azoty subsidiary Grupa Azoty Puławy has also taken the decision to increase capacity utilization and start up the Agro segment’s process units used to make nitrogen fertilizers – specifically, Pulan, Pulan Macro, Saletrzak 27N, Pulrea, Pulrea+iNu, and RSM – also as of Oct. 12.

However, Azoty said taking into account Grupa Azoty Puławy’s current production – ammonium sulfate from the flue gas desulfurization unit and non-fertilizer products (excluding melamine) – the caprolactam unit (Plastics segment) and the melamine unit (Agro segment) will remain shut down after the full start-up of the fertilizer production units.

Grupa Azoty’s Police Port Project Secures EU Funding

Europe, News, News Briefs, Poland

Polish fertilizer and chemicals group Grupa Azoty SA’s port of Police project has secured nearly €1.74 million (approximately $1.69 million at current exchange rates) in European Union (EU) funding for the project’s study phase, the group reported on Oct. 11.

The planned project is aimed at improving the port’s accessibility from the shore and sea and increasing its handling capacity, and will increase the potential of Grupa Azoty, the group said. Police is Poland’s fourth largest port.

The project includes a planned increase in the overall length (LOA) of the port’s heavy cargo universal wharf by 300 meters, to reach a LOA of 715 meters. It also includes the construction of a rail link between Police seaport and a new rail line (no. 437) currently under construction.

The project was selected for EU funding under the “Connecting Europe Facility” (CEF) in the 2021-2027 financial framework.

Dutch Tank Storage Major Vopak Eyes Green NH3 Import, Storage

Green Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Northwestern Europe

Dutch tank storage major Royal Vopak NV is making preparation at Vopak Terminal Vlissingen for the storage of green ammonia in response to the growing demand for sustainable raw materials and energy, the Rotterdam-based company said on Oct. 11.

Two existing refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tanks, each with a capacity of 55,000 cubic meters (cbm), will be converted, and the requisite berths, pipelines, and other infrastructure are available.

There is also space available for expansions and other industrial activities, such as the installation to convert the ammonia back into green hydrogen, said Vopak.

The location will be connected to the Northwest European Hydrogen network, which can be used to supply the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

Vopak Terminal Vlissingen is located at the North Sea Port, which is the 60-kilometer-long cross-border port area that stretches from Vlissingen on the North Sea Coast in the Netherlands, some 32 kilometers inland to Ghent in Belgium.

The industry in the Scheldt-Delta region, where the North Sea Port is located, currently forms the largest hydrogen cluster in the Benelux.

OCP Reserves 4 M mt of Fertilizers for Africa in 2023

Africa, Morocco, News, News Briefs

OCP Group SA, Casablanca, reported that it has committed to reserve over 4 million mt of fertilizers for African farmers in 2023 to help strengthen the continent’s food security.

The reserved volume represents more than a quarter of the Moroccan phosphate group’s expected total output next year and double the volume it supplied to Africa in 2021, the group said in an Oct. 12 statement.

OCP Group Chairman and CEO Mostafa Terrab made the announcement at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, that took place Oct. 10-16.

“The current geopolitical situation reveals deeper systemic fragilities in global agricultural systems,” said Terrab. “We have to address the challenges facing African farmers, from infrastructure to knowledge to market access to financing.”

The chief executive highlighted the “excellent dialogue and collaboration” with the World Bank, the International Finance Corp. (IFC), and USAID, as well as other multilateral and development agencies involved in this effort.

OCP in February 2016 established OCP Africa, a new, fully-owned subsidiary aimed at helping to meet the challenge of creating structured, efficient, and sustainable agriculture in Africa (GM Feb. 26, 2016).

The group has since established a number of joint ventures, many of them including plans and projects for the development of production units in several sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Acron Launches New NPK Fertilizer Range for Kenyan Maize-Growing

Africa, News, News Briefs, NPK, Russia

Acron Group, Moscow, has launched a new range of NPK fertilizers produced for Kenyan farmers. Marketed under the “Unicereal” brand, the NPK fertilizers are designed specifically for use as planting and top dressing fertilizers to grow maize in the East African country.

The Russian fertilizer group said the new fertilizers were demonstrated last month in partnership with Unifert Kenya Ltd. during a field day in Kitale, in the northern Rift Valley of the country, according to an Oct. 11 statement on Acron’s website.

According to Acron, a trial conducted at a farm in Endebess, Trans-Nzoia County, showed that 70 bags of maize were produced per acre as a result of using Unicereal NPK – some 20-30% more than the average yield when using blended fertilizer. The farmer concerned also highlighted the improved result vis-à-vis using traditional DAP fertilizer.

Acron Group Vice President Overseas Dmitry Khabrat said the group has been supplying fertilizers to Kenyan farmers for many years, and plans to strengthen its position on the African continent.

Third Largest Rail Union Rejects Tentative Labor Agreement; Two Others Vote to Ratify

Featured, News, Transportation, U.S.

A majority of members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) voted to reject the tentative labor agreement reached last month with the six Class 1 railroads, according to an Oct. 10 statement from BMWED.

BMWED represents almost 12,000 workers who maintain tracks and other rail facilities, and is the third-largest union seeking a new contract with the nation’s freight railroads. According to the statement, 6,646 BMWED members voted against ratification, while 5,100 supported the agreement.

“The majority of the BMWED membership rejected the tentative national agreement and we recognize and understand that result,” President Tony D. Cardwell said. “I trust that railroad management understands that sentiment as well. Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard.

“Railroaders do not feel valued,” Cardwell continued. “They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness. The result of this vote indicates that there is a lot of work to do to establish goodwill and improve the morale that has been broken by the railroads’ executives and Wall Street hedge fund managers.”

The tentative labor agreement reached on Sept. 15 with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents most Class I freight railroads in national collective bargaining, provides for a 24% wage increase through 2024 and retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020, $5,000 in lump-sum bonus payments, and a 14.1% retroactive portion of the 24% wage increase payable immediately upon ratification (GM Sept. 16, p. 1). In all, 12 unions representing nearly 125,000 rail workers are involved in the contract negotiations.

BMWED’s rejection was followed by news that two other unions voted to approve the contract, bringing the total number of unions supporting the agreement to six. Members of the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers (NFCO), which represents 2,400 rail workers and is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, voted to ratify the agreement with a 58.7% majority, according to an Oct. 13 statement from NCFO.

Members of the Mechanical Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-MD) also voted to approve the agreement with a narrow 54% margin, according to an Oct. 12 statement from SMART-MD. The close votes by both NFCO and SMART-MD indicate that many rail workers remain dissatisfied with the contract, however.

“Besides the strong wage increases and the increase in our Health Insurance, many members of the NCFO are disappointed with the terms of the agreement,” said NCFO President Dean Devita. “I strongly agree with them. Quality of life issues after the COVID-19 crisis is extremely important; sick leave and time off to visit medical practitioners are more important today than it was 48 years ago. Although the agreement is finalized, the NCFO will continue to work on this and many other issues.”

“It was up to our members to decide whether to accept this agreement, and the members have made the decision to ratify a contract with the highest wage increases we have ever seen in national freight rail bargaining,” said Joseph Sellers Jr., General President of SMART. “However, we hear the concerns of our members who may be disappointed in the outcome of this vote, and I promise that we will never stop fighting to ensure that they receive the wages, benefits, and working conditions that they deserve for keeping the American economy running.”

BMWED’s rejection of the agreement results in a “status quo” period, which lasts until Nov. 19, in which no strike can take place while negotiations resume. Five more unions are scheduled to vote through mid-November, the NCCC confirmed, including the two largest unions. Only BMWED has so far rejected the agreement.

FreightWaves reported that the six unions that have agreed to ratify their labor agreements represent just 19% of a unionized workforce of 124,500 workers, based on 2020 headcount numbers, according to figures provided by transportation analyst Bascome Majors with Susquehanna Financial Group, an investment firm.

According to Bloomberg, if one union were to go on strike, others could refuse to cross the picket line, and rail companies could respond in kind with a nationwide lockout after the Nov. 19 deadline.

First Phosphate Advances LFP Project with Signing of MOU with Port of Saguenay

Canada, Lithium, News, News Briefs, Phosphate

Junior miner First Phosphate Corp., Saguenay, Quebec, announced on Oct. 12 that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Port of Saguenay, which it said is a further step in the implementation of the company’s six-phase integration plan for the North American lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery market.

The MOU engages discussions between the parties to provide the company with potential deep sea access to ship phosphate concentrate internationally and greenfield land on which to build its facilities. The company noted that the MOU comes on the heels of the re-election of Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who has committed to invest C$117.2 million in infrastructure at the port.

First Phosphate holds 1,500 square kilometers of total land claims in the Saguenay Region some 110 kilometers north of the City of Saguenay, which it is actively developing to produce battery grade phosphate at ESG standards and with a low-carbon footprint. It said it has received promising assay results confirming the presence of high-grade phosphate, and is expecting to announce its 43-101 technical report results later this fall.

Last month the company partnered on a research initiative with the Pufahl Research Group at Canada’s Queen’s University that it said will provide new data on the economic potential of the deposit as a rich source of clean phosphate for the LFP battery market.

On Sept. 28, the company announced the appointment of Peter Kent as its new president. He is a former international journalist and Canadian Member of Parliament. He joined the Board of Directors in August.

The company said Kent brought more than four decades of experience as an international broadcast journalist, reporter, and producer at CTV, CBC, NBC, Monitor, and Global. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Thornhill, Ontario in the 2008 federal election, a position he held until he chose to leave public office in 2021. While in Parliament, he served as Minister of State for the Americas (2008-2011), and as Minister of the Environment (2011-2013).

Australia’s Centrex Minerals Ships First Australian Domestic Phos Rock Export

Australia, News, News Briefs, Phosphate Rock

Australian phosphate rock has been domestically exported for the first time. This month, Adelaide-based resources firm Centrex Metals, via its 100%-owned fertilizer subsidiary Agriflex Pty Ltd., completed its first bulk shipment of beneficiated phosphate rock via the port of Townsville, Queensland, to southern Australia.

The shipment, comprising an initial trial parcel of 7,200 mt of 34.5+% grade P2O5, was loaded and sold on an FOB basis. Further bulk shipments of 10,000 mt per month are expected to be made on an ongoing basis, Centrex Minerals said in an Oct. 12 ASX statement.

The rock was mined at the company’s Ardmore mine, located 128 km south of the city of Mount Isa in northwest Queensland, and transported to Townsville by rail. The company did not confirm the identity of the recipient of the cargo.

Mining started in August 2021, and the Ardmore beneficiation plant achieved metallurgical design performance of 70 mt/h of wet feed phosphate rock this past August.

Centrex CEO Robert Mencel, in an interview with Australia’s ABC News, said the shipment was “a significant day for the industry because previously phosphate rock was 100% imported.”

The CEO put Australia’s current phosphate rock imports at around 400,000 mt/y, with New Zealand importing around 600,000 mt/y.

The Ardmore project would provide an export opportunity for Australia and reduce its need for importation, he said.

Centrex is targeting to reach output of 125 mt/h by early 2023 and full annual production of 800,000 wet mt toward the end of next year.

The resources company signed a development deal with Incitec Pivot Ltd.’s (IPL) subsidiary Southern Cross Fertilisers Pte. Ltd. (SCF) in early 2017, under which Centrex agreed to develop the project (GM Feb. 3, 2017). Under the agreement, SCF retained an interest in the project via right of first refusal for up to 20% of the available production at market prices, as well as a 3% royalty.

However, under a settlement between Agriflex and SCF in November 2021 over an extension fee claim by SCF under the original Royalty Deed, Agriflex agreed to up the Royalty Deed from 3% to 3.5%, except during calculation periods where the average Morocco 72% BPL FOB phos rock benchmark is less than US$150 per ton, when the royalty will remain at 3%.

In addition, SCF’s first right of refusal over the available production was increased to 30%.

Centrex also has the remaining first three years of production at Ardmore allocated.

Agriflex inked agreements with New Zealand’s Ravensdown Ltd. and Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd. in April and May this year, respectively, for each New Zealand cooperative to buy a trial 5,000 mt shipment, and a first right of refusal for each to purchase 20% of available annual production for the first three years.

Ameropa Australia Pty. Ltd. in July this year inked a deal with Agriflex for the purchase of a trial 5,000 wet mt shipment and first right of refusal to purchase 10% of available annual production for the first three years.

A marketing term sheet was signed with South Korea’s Samsung C+T Corp. in October 2021 whereby Samsung has 20% first right of refusal over annual production – or 160,000 mt/y – for the first three years (GM Oct. 29, 2021). The marketing sheet duration is for the first three years of production. Under the deal, Samsung was appointed as sole and exclusive marketing representative for sales into Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India, and Mexico.

Ardmore is a satellite deposit to the main Duchess mining operations, which feeds the adjacent Phosphate Hill ammonium phosphate fertilizer plant owned by SCF/Incitec Pivot. Phosphate reserves at Ardmore provide for a 10-year mining life. The Duchess mine produces about 2.1 million mt/y, with more than 50 years of mine life remaining.