All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

Incitec Pivot Ltd. – Management Brief

Australia, Management Briefs

Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Southbank, Victoria, announced that Paul Victor has been appointed as CFO of the company, commencing July 1, 2022. He is currently an Executive Director and CFO of Sandton, South Africa-based Sasol Ltd.

He has more than 30 years’ international experience working across a range of industries, including upstream oil and gas, gold and coal mining, chemicals, and energy for internationally listed companies.

Chris Opperman has been working as IPL’s Interim CFO since mid-November (GM Nov. 19, 2021), following the previously announced resignation of Nick Stratford from the company in September (GM Sept. 10, 2021).

IPL said Opperman will continue in the interim role through Victor’s transition, and his future role with the company will be announced at a later date. Opperman has been with IPL for over 11 years, holding key leadership positions in the finance sector. Prior to taking up the Interim CFO role, he was CFO for the Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific business.

Fertilizers Europe Suspends EuroChem Group Membership

Europe, Featured, News

The President of Fertilizers Europe has suspended the membership of EuroChem Group AG as of March 23, 2022, the Brussels-based European fertilizer manufacturers’ organization said in a March 24 statement.

Fertilizers Europe said it will call an Extraordinary General Assembly towards the end of April to take a formal decision on EuroChem’s membership.

The fertilizer manufacturers’ organization said during the suspension EuroChem staff will not be involved in any activities, internal or external, conducted by the association.

“Following [European Union] sanctions against Andrey Melnichenko, the former chief beneficiary of the EuroChem Group, and Vladimir Rashevskiy, former EuroChem CEO, it must be assumed that this also extends to EuroChem Group. These sanctions may also have consequences for Fertilizers Europe in relation to providing services and benefits for EuroChem Group,” Bloomberg reported, citing Fertilizers Europe.

EuroChem Group is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, but until March 9 it was 90 percent controlled by Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko via Cyprus-based AIM Capital SE. He and former EuroChem CEO Vladimir Rashevskiy came under sanction by the European Union (E.U.) in its expanded list of sanctioned Russian individuals, announced on March 9 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Melnichenko resigned from the EuroChem Board on March 9 and withdrew as a main beneficiary of the group after being sanctioned by the E.U. (GM March 11, p. 1). Rashevskiy last week resigned as CEO, effective March 15, 2022 (GM March 18, p. 32). He also resigned as a member of the Board of Directors, effective March 15, 2022.

Fourteen Injured in Yara NH3 Leak in France

Ammonia, France, News, News Briefs

An ammonia leak occurred on March 23 at Yara’s Ambès production site, in the Gironde department in southwestern France, according to local media reports, citing a statement from the Gironde prefecture.

Some 14 workers were injured by the ammonia leak, including two “seriously,” one of whom was airlifted to the Bordeaux University Hospital. About 50 firefighters attended the incident.

According to the Gironde prefecture statement, “although the amounts of ammonia that leaked were limited in quantity, the ammonia vapor cloud that formed caused 14 injuries, two of them serious, all working inside the site at the time of the accident.”

Measurements taken around the accident site 30 minutes later did not detect ammonia, the statement read.

The ammonia leak occurred at around 9:45 a.m. local time when a truck was being loaded with liquid ammonia, according to the statement.

Ammonium nitrate (AN) is among the products produced at the Yara Ambès site, which has some 0.5 million mt/y of AN capacity. Yara had yet to respond to Green Markets’ inquiries by press time.

An investigation into the accident has begun.

Poland’s Zakłady Chemiczne Police Can Partly Restore Production

News, News Briefs, Poland

Grupa Azoty Zakłady Chemiczne Police SA, the subsidiary of Polish fertilizer and chemicals company Grupa Azoty SA, early this week said it can partly restore production on most of its important installations after it was able to fix one of two boilers that had broken down, according to a Polish Press Agency (PAP) report, citing a March 21 company statement.

Zakłady Chemiczne Police on March 9 declared a force majeure event due to the failure of the two boilers at the power plant at its Police production site, which had resulted in “a temporary stoppage or a very significant limitation of production” (GM March 18, p. 32).

The company said as a consequence of the boilers’ breakdown it had become impossible to generate the process steam necessary for the production of the Police’s most important units.

Zakłady Chemiczne Police is Poland’s largest manufacturer of compound fertilizers, with some 1 million mt/y of production capacity.

It said the estimated financial impact of the breakdown will be disclosed in a separate filing.

Poland to Allocate PLN3.9Bn in Fertilizer Subsidiaries, Grupa Azoty Boost Seen

News, News Briefs, Poland

Poland will allocate Pln3.9 billion (approximately $912.6 million at current exchange rates) to a new subsidy program for fertilizer purchases by the country’s farmers to protect them against higher production costs, according to a Ministry of Agriculture press statement, cited by a Polish Press Agency (PAP) report on March 18.

The subsidies will be paid once the European Commission announces its consent for the program, the ministry said.

Poland will offer Pln500 per hectare in subsidies to up to 50 hectares of arable land, available to all farmers, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news briefing, as cited by the PAP report. Additionally, Poland will offer Pln250 per hectare for pastures, also with a 50 hectare limit.

The subsidies will be paid only upon presentation of invoices for purchases of fertilizers issued between Sept. 1, 2021, and May 15, 2022, PAP reported, citing Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk.

Shares in Polish fertilizer and chemicals company Grupa Azoty SA, Poland’s biggest fertilizer producer, gained as much as 4.8 percent following the government announcement.

Azoty’s shares in Warsaw on March 18 rose to 38.80 zloty per share, until then their highest since September 2019. The shares were higher still later in the week, closing the day’s trading on March 24 at 44.7 zloty (approximately $10.5 at current exchange rates) per share.

Warsaw-based Trigon Investment Bank analyst Michal Kozak was cited in a Bloomberg report as saying the new aid will boost farmers’ purchasing power, “which should help Azoty sell products at higher prices reflecting the elevated cost of gas and other commodities required in production.”

However, Kozak added that it was too early to estimate the impact from the new government plan precisely.

Fertilizer Created from Grupa Azoty Flue Gas Desulfurization Process

News, News Briefs, Poland, Specialty

Polish fertilizer and chemicals company Grupa Azoty SA, Tarnów, has completed commissioning work on the flue gas desulfurization plant for boiler K-5.

The flue gas is desulfurized in a wet magnesium process, and the SO2 absorbed in a suspension of calcined magnesite, the company said in a March 16 statement.

The product of the desulfurization process will be magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, which is used in agriculture as a magnesium fertilizer or as a component of compound fertilizers, Azoty said.

Azoty highlighted that obtaining this product in the flue gas desulfurization process offers the company an opportunity “to take advantage of the synergies between its energy segment and fertilizer production.”

JPMC Forms JV with India’s Teesta Agro, Inks Phos Rock Deal with Oswal

Di-Ammonium Phosphate, India, Jordan, News, News Briefs, Phosphate, Phosphoric Acid

Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. (JPMC) and India’s Teesta Agro Industries Ltd. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a company to produce phosphoric acid and DAP in Jordan, the Jordanian company said in a March 24 filing to the Amman Stock Exchange.

The plant will have capacity to produce 300,000 mt of DAP annually, which will be exported to India, JPMC said. It put the estimated cost of the project at $400 million.

Both parties have agreed to discuss procedures to establish the company in Amman within four months

Teesta Agro produces SSP and NPK fertilizers, as well as micronutrients.

JPMC also said it has signed an agreement with India’s Oswal Agro Chemicals & Fertilizers Private Ltd. “to cover the latter’s needs for ‘low-quality phosphate’ [phosphate rock] with an annual volume of 500,000 mt over 10 years, based on quarterly global prices.”

The first agreement was signed by JPMC Chairman Mohammad Thneibat and the General Manager of India’s Teesta Agro Industries Ltd., Paramdeep Singh, and the second was signed with Oswal’s CEO.

Ukraine’s Sumykhimprom Sustains Minor Damage to Ammonia Pipeline/Tank

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Ukraine

Ukraine’s Sumykhimprom chemicals and fertilizers producer sustained a leakage of ammonia following damage to an ammonia pipeline – or, according to some reports, an ammonia tank – early on the morning of March 21. One employee was reportedly injured as a result of the accident.

The Sumy-based producer, located about 350 km east of Kyiv, described the ammonia leak – which occurred around 4:30 a.m. (local time) – as “minor” and said the pipeline, in the compound fertilizer section of the plant, had been sealed with the help of the State Emergency Service (SES), Interfax reported, citing a March 21 company statement. Thereafter, Sumykhimprom said there was no threat to the local population or the environment.

Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that the Ukraine rescue services at 07:45 a.m. announced on Twitter the accident was “finished.”

Sumy Regional Governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, as cited by various media reports on the day of the accident, did not say what had caused the leak. However, heavy fighting with Russian forces has been reported in the area, and according to a report by the Ukrainian multimedia platform, Ukrinform, the ammonia tank was damaged by shelling.

Sumykhimprom employees have begun routine maintenance to restore the damaged areas.

The plant was shut down in emergency mode on Feb. 24, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dyno Nobel to Supply Fortescue’s Iron Bridge Project with Explosives Technology

Australia, News, News Briefs

Dyno Nobel, a business of Southbank, Victoria-based Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), will supply Fortescue Metals Group’s Iron Bridge Magnetite project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region with its so-named “Differential Energy” blasting technology, IPL said on March 21.

The six-year performance-based contract began in February and builds on Dyno Nobel’s existing relationship with Fortescue in the Pilbara. By mid-decade, Dyno Nobel will provide 25,000 mt/y of Differential Energy emulsion for use at Iron Bridge, according to IPL.

Ghana Optimistic on OCP JV Fertilizer Plant by 2026

Africa, Morocco, Natural Gas, News, News Briefs, Phosphate

Ghana is optimistic on progress to set up a $2 billion fertilizer production plant in the country in partnership with Morocco’s OCP SA by 2026.

Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture Owusu Afriyie Akoto was speaking this week at the inauguration of the Board of the country’s National Fertiliser Council.

Akoto highlighted that Ghana in the last four years has been working in collaboration with OCP to attract foreign investors to exploit the country’s “surplus of gas” to turn it into fertilizers. He is also “very optimistic” that Ghana can attract the right investment to start the construction of a fertilizer production plant.

OCP and Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture announced plans back in 2019 to proceed with a new 1 million mt/y fertilizer plant in Ghana (GM Sept. 6, 2019), after inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the previous year to explore the feasibility of such a plant (GM Sept. 14, 2018).

Under the original proposals, the plant would be to be located in the Jomoro District in western Ghana and would use natural gas from Ghana and phosphate from Morocco.