All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

Transportation

Illinois River, Market Watch, Mississippi RIver, Ohio River, Transportation, U.S. Gulf

U.S. Gulf:

Forecasts called for overnight fog delays throughout the Gulf starting around Dec. 14, potentially triggering 8-12 delays on overnight movements.

Weekday Bayou Boeuf Lock navigation remained limited to between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Transit was available on a 24-hour schedule on Saturdays and Sundays.

Harvey Lock has been reported closed to traffic for emergency repairs since Dec. 6, requiring vessels to detour through Algiers Lock.

Shoaling reported at Mile 7 in the Houma Navigational Canal limited vessel drafts to 11 feet at Miles 6-10, a Coast Guard safety advisory indicated. Dredging reported at the site was projected to wrap up on Dec. 22.

Bayou Chene floodgate construction limited travel to 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. nightly. Tows were reportedly capped at 600 feet of length, while an assist vessel was required on all movements wider than 54 feet. Dive operations were projected to trigger intermittent shutdowns through the area lasting up to 6-12 hours at a stretch.

Towing restrictions continued at Miles 113-116 of the Atchafalaya River, located in the Morgan City area. Barge and vessel drafts were limited to 10 feet due to extensive shoaling, while total tow sizes were restricted to 600-foot lengths and 70-foot widths. Tows running longer than 400 feet were advised to use an assist tug. Vessels could bypass the restrictions entirely by detouring through the Port Allen Route, according to Coast Guard documents.

Ongoing length and width restrictions were reported on travel through Algiers Lock, effectively capping unassisted travel to four standard barges or two 30,000 mt tankers per lock, although larger movements were available if accompanied by an assist vessel.

Belle Chasse Bridge construction projected to run through late 2022 was likely to trigger intermittent navigational shutdowns, with delays noted up to 12 hours at a time. The structure is located near Mile 3 in the West Canal.

Port Allen Lock continued to see lengthy delays, with Corps data showing most lockages concluding in 1-2 days. Most Industrial Lock wait times were reported at 11 hours or less, but intermittent delays spiked to 25 hours or more during the week. Vessels passing Algiers Lock saw wait times up to six hours, while Colorado Lock waits were posted up to 12.5 hours.

Mississippi River:

The conclusion of dredging activities at Mile 591 on the lower Mississippi River allowed resumed movements through Miles 591-595. Travel delays through the area were expected to persist into the week ahead. More than 70 tows were reportedly queued to pass the site on Dec. 7.

Falling water levels at St. Louis further constricted lower Mississippi River drafts to 10 feet for barges and vessels, down from 10-11.5 feet at various points along the river in the prior report. The river gauge at St. Louis returned a 0.4-foot depth reading on Dec. 15, increasing from (-)0.05-feet on Dec. 8. In addition, a Wind Advisory on Dec. 15 was in effect for the St. Louis area through 2:00 a.m. on Dec. 16.

Shoaling reported at the upper river’s Mile 171 necessitated dredging in the area. Intermittent navigation stoppages and delays were expected through approximately Dec. 21.

Locks 1-12 on the upper Mississippi River were closed for the winter navigation season on Dec. 15. Lock 15 and Lock 24 are expected to shut for seasonal maintenance on Jan. 1, 2022, with Lock 24 scheduled to reopen on Jan. 31.

Lock 15 is slated to reopen on March 3, while Locks 5 and 7 were due to return for the spring season on March 11. March 17 will see Locks 5A, 8, and 10 resume lockages, while Lock 4 is tentatively set to reopen on March 21.

Corps data showed vessels delayed by up to 14 hours at Lock 27 through the week.

Illinois River:

Diving operations that began on Dec. 7 to repair the Valley City Railroad Bridge, located at Miles 61-62 on the Illinois River, were projected to conclude on Dec. 17. The work has interrupted movements daily between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Lock operators were heard lowering wickets at Peoria Lock on Dec. 14 due to rising water levels, allowing boats through the navigational pass. Prior to the wickets’ lowering, intermittent waits through the site were noted up to 7.5 hours.

The Corps has scheduled a repair and maintenance project at Brandon Road Lock from May 9 through Sept. 8, 2022. Daytime travel will be unavailable from May 9 through Aug. 14, followed by a total shutdown from Aug. 15 through Sept. 4. Daylight-hour closures will return on Sept. 5-8, followed by the resumption of normal operation on Sept. 9. A 70-foot width limit will be in effect on all lockages while the project is underway.

Dresden Island Lock delays were quoted up to 5.5 hours for the week. Boats passing LaGrange Lock saw wait times up to 12.5 hours.

Ohio River:

The Montgomery Lock main chamber is shut through Dec. 22 for planned maintenance and repairs, forcing tows to lock one barge per turn through the secondary chamber. Delays swelled to 7-9 days in each direction during the week, increasing from 5-7 days in the prior report.

Hannibal Lock main chamber repairs reportedly ended on schedule on Dec. 10. Additional repairs proposed by the Corps would prompt navigational shutdowns between July 5 and Oct. 8, 2022. Emergency hydraulic repairs at Markland Lock concluded on Dec. 8.

The Dashields Lock auxiliary chamber remained closed to transport due to an underwater obstruction blocking the lower miter gate. Passage through the site remained possible through the main chamber.

A Cannelton Lock repair proposed by the Corps would affect primary chamber travel between July 5 and Nov. 11, 2022. Traffic is expected to run through the auxiliary chamber while work is underway.

Miter gate work kicked off in early November at the Tennessee River’s Kentucky Lock concluded during the week, allowing traffic to resume through the site. Vessels were previously reported detouring through Barkley Lock and the Barkley Canal, adding 1-2 days of travel time in each direction. Minimal delays were reported on Dec. 15.

Primary chamber work at Wilson Lock scheduled for Feb. 23 through April 28, 2022, was expected to prompt detours through the secondary chamber. The main chamber is currently anticipated to open for a single time during the closure, on April 1-3.

The Cumberland River’s Barkley Lock will undergo a round of main chamber shutdowns daily between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., on Jan. 15-30, 2022. Proposed maintenance at Cheatham Lock will likely disrupt navigation between May 16 and Aug. 4, 2022.

Transit through the Allegheny River’s Lock 6 continued to be reported as unavailable due to a damaged miter gate anchorage.

Lithuania’s Transport Ministry Proposes Law To Prohibit Transhipment of Belarusian Goods

Belarus, Europe, Featured, News, Potash

Lithuania’s Transport Ministry has proposed a law introducing sanctions for goods directly or indirectly imported, bought, or transferred from Belarus, the Baltic News Service (BNS) has reported.

The bill, registered on Dec. 10, would allow Lithuania to prevent any transit of Belaruskali potash or fertilizer via Lithuania’s territory, the ministry said.

“Contracts signed before the implementation of sanctions in Lithuania must be terminated unilaterally or under mutual agreement or their implementation must be suspended for the durations of sanctions. Contracts running counter to sanctions implemented in Lithuania are forbidden,” the bill reads, according to the report.

Belarus rails most of its potash for export through Lithuania, into the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda for onward shipment.

The law, if implemented, could lead to losses for Lithuanian businesses because of any restrictions, but to mitigate its effects, the Transport Ministry has proposed a transitional period.

The proposal comes amid Lithuania’s failure to stop the transit of Belarusian potash after the U.S. sanctions on Belarus state-owned producer Belaruskali came into effect on Dec. 8. following a four-month wind-down period (GM Aug. 13, p. 1).

Additional U.S. sanctions were imposed on Dec. 2 on Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC), the Belarusian marketer/exporter of Belaruskali’s potash, which was not included on the initial U.S. sanctions list. They come into effect on April 1, 2022 (GM Dec. 3, p. 1).

The U.S. sanctions do not cover Lithuania itself, but – as with E.U. sanctions against the Belarusian regime – many Belarusian banks are under sanction, as are U.S. financial entities now prohibited from doing business connected with Belarusian potash; consequently, they can no longer process Belaruskali’s financial transactions.

The timeframe for progressing the Transport Ministry’s proposed law remains unclear at press time. But according to a bne IntelliNews report mid-week, Lithuania’s parliament “is scrambling” to pass legislation to ban the transit of Belarusian goods, including potash.

That shipments via Lithuania did not stop after the U.S. sanctions kicked in has embroiled Lithuania’s government, leading to the prospect that the entire cabinet might resign, according to another bni IntelliNews report early this week, citing the country’s Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė.

Two Lithuanian ministers already have tendered their resignations following strong criticism that the country’s state-run railway, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (LTG), continues to transport Belarusian potash, despite the U.S. sanctions (GM Dec. 10, p. 1). Foreign Minster Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis stepped down last week, and Transport Minister Marius Skudos has also tendered his resignation, according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) newswire, citing a BNS report on Dec. 13.

However, the prime minister announced late on Dec. 14 that the two ministers will remain in their posts, and, in an apparent about-face, said her government would not step down, according to a Dec. 15 bni IntelliNews report.

Instead, LTG CEO Mantas Bartuska agreed to step down in an attempt to “de-escalate” public outcry over the transport of potash from sanctions-hit Belarus, according to a report from Brussels-based media outlet Euractiv, citing LTG Chairman Kęstutis Šliužas, in a specially-convened news conference on Dec. 14. The CEO will leave after a transitional period.

However, the railways company lacks sufficient legal grounds to stop its transportation of potash, according to an LTG statement.

Earlier this month, Bartuska told a Lithuanian parliamentary hearing that LTG was continuing to transport Belarusian potash because the sanctions only apply to U.S-connected entities. The CEO also told the parliamentary committee the railways company has a contract with Belaruskali that expires at the end of 2023, and LTG cannot terminate it.

European Union (E.U.) sanctions that came into force against the Belarusian regime on June 25 and restrict imports on Belarusian potash into E.U. countries and a transit ban via E.U. countries, of which Lithuania is one, exclude a key grade of Belarusian potash (GM June 25, p. 1). The excluded grade potassium chloride with a potassium content evaluated as K2O by weight, exceeding 40 percent, but not exceeding 60 percent on the dry anhydrous product, which accounts for around 80 percent of Belarus’ potash supplies to the E.U.

Additionally, Belarus’ current supply contracts with India and China – i.e., those concluded before June 2021 – are not subject to the Brussels sanctions.

Some 10.7 million mt of Belarusian potash was transhipped through Klaipėda in 2020. The U.S. imports about 550,000 mt of potash a year from Belarus.

LTG earlier reported Belaruskali also had made advance payments back in November for rail transport through end-February, complicating any move to halt shipments.

Nevertheless, reports emerged early this week that the railways company was looking for ways to return Belaruskali’s advance payment for potash shipments in January and February.

According to the BNS report, citing LTG spokesperson Mantas Dubauskas on Dec.10, the railways company tried to transfer the advance payment back to Belaruskali after a meeting at the office of the Lithuanian prime minister on Dec. 7, the day before the U.S. sanctions against the Belarusian potash producer came into effect, but the transfer was rejected.

According to a Dec. 9 report by BNS, citing Igor Udovickij, the majority shareholder of Klaipėda’s Bulk Cargo Terminal (Birių krovinių terminalas, BKT), which handles Belaruskali shipments via Lithuania, the transit of Belarusian potash via Lithuania cannot be suspended, as he said “that would run counter to international agreements of Lithuania, the E.U., and the U.S.”.

Belaruskali owns the remaining 30 percent stake in the terminal.

According to a bni IntelliNews report, citing the Lithuanian news portal Delfi, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda in mid-June had wanted Belarusian potash to be left off the E.U. sanctions list, amid concerns about losses for Lithuanian businesses and fear of a Russian takeover of Belarusian potash enterprises. But once the E.U. sectoral sanctions were implemented, the president said he would support them.

Lithuania is seen as one of the main advocates of Belarusian democracy, and since the disputed Belarusian presidential election on Aug. 9, 2020, the Lithuanian government has been pushing for tough sanctions against the Lukashenko regime. A migration crisis on Lithuania’s border with Belarus – widely attributed to the Minsk regime – continues to deteriorate.

This week the husband of exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was jailed for 18 years by a Minsk court for – according to a Bloomberg report – allegedly organizing mass unrest, public order violations, stirring “social enmity,” and obstructing the central election commission. Five other people on trial with Sergei Tikhanovsky were also jailed for between 14 and 16 years.

If transhipment of Belarusian potash via Lithuania were to be halted, Belaruskali/BPC would likely have to look to Russia. Lukashenko has long threatened to divert the export of Belarusian potash from Klaipėda – despite Belaruskali owning a 30 percent stake in the BKT terminal – to Russia’s Baltic ports, Ust Luga and Primorsk, even though they are some 600 km further away.

The Belarus potash producer also is reported to have approached several Latvian freight carriers in recent weeks, regarding the possibility of transhipping potash via Latvia and Latvian ports, according to BBC International Reports (Europe). According to the report, private Latvian carriers have said no.

Latvia’s Baltijas Expresis (BE), which transports freight to the Latvian port of Ventspils, was one of the companies cited by the report. BE’s Board Chairman Maris Bremze said Latvia is in the same situation as Lithuania, and is an E.U. member state with the same legal consequences.

The Latvian Baltic port of Ventspils used to handle Belaruskali potash and could be capable of doing that now, but the volumes would be lower than the 11 million mt/y Belarus currently transports via Lithuania and the port of Klaipėda, said Bremze.

Yara Updates on Ammonia Curtailment Volume

Ammonia, Featured, News, Scandinavia

Yara International ASA, Oslo, said on Dec. 15 that including planned maintenance and unscheduled outages, its European ammonia production was approximately 30 percent (around 370,000 mt ) below capacity from September to November. The company in early December told Green Markets most of its idled ammonia production was back up or was in the process of returning to production (GM Dec. 3, p. 1).

Record high natural gas prices led Yara to curtail ammonia production at a number of its plants in Europe in September (GM Sep. 17, p. 1). At the time, Yara estimated that some 40 percent of its ammonia production capacity was coming offline.

CF Industries Holding Inc. Deerfield, Ill., the same week also announced that soaring gas prices in Europe had caused the company to idle plants in the U.K. Other European producers, including Vienna-based Borealis Group AG, and BASF subsequently announced European ammonia curtailments (GM Sept. 24, p. 1; Oct. 1, p. 1).

In its Dec. 15 statement, Yara confirmed that most of its ammonia production in Europe is back on stream. The company also confirmed that the impact on finished fertilizer production has been limited, as unprofitable ammonia production has been replaced with sourcing from Yara plants outside Europe, and from the company’s global ammonia trade and shipping network.

Yara said it will continue to monitor the situation with the objective to keep supplying customers, but curtailing production where necessary.

Even so, European natural gas prices were gaining again this week, following news that Germany’s regulator Bundesnetzagentur would not be making a decision on the start-up of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline – a twin gas link across the Baltic Sea – before July, Bloomberg reported.

“European natural gas prices are rising on the heels of a forecast for a cold snap next week, comments from the German regulator indicating no decision on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline until at least next July, and Europe’s gas inventories dropping fast,” said Green Markets Research Director Alexis Maxwell.

“European ammonia production margins turned negative as gas prices rose in December after a brief reprise in November, signalling further risk ahead for continued shutdowns through spring,” she said.

The benchmark Dutch TFI front-month gas contract (currently January 2022) in Amsterdam gained as much as 2.1 percent to €135 per megawatt-hour at midday on Dec. 16 on news of the further Nord Stream 2 approval delay. By close, it had reached €136.55 per megawatt-hour, up from €100 per megawatt-hour in mid-November.

Nord Stream 2’s start-up delay means the link will not be moving gas when injections start to refill Europe’s depleted storage sites after winter. That risks extending the current market tightness into next winter, according to the Bloomberg report.

An initial decision by the German regulator had been expected by Jan. 8 (GM Oct. 29, p. 1). But Bundesnetzagentur suspended the certification process for Nord Stream 2 on Nov. 16, according to a bne IntelliNews report, citing a tweet by Bundesnetzagentur (GM Nov. 19, p. 1). The regulator decided to suspend the process until the Nord Stream 2 AG’s holding company had reorganized its legal structure to conform with German law. This will involve the transfer of the assets and people to a subsidiary.

The German regulator’s decision is only a provisional one, after which it is passed to the European Commission for comment, which will take a further two-to-four months. Then, Bundesnetzagentur has a further two months to make a final decision.

The future of Nord Stream 2 could also be at risk due to the escalating tensions over Russia and Ukraine.

Gas inventories in Europe are less than two-thirds full and weather forecasts point to lower-than-average temperatures for the next four weeks, according to the Bloomberg report. Meanwhile, prolonged nuclear reactor halts in France, a major electricity exporter, will further boost Europe’s demand for alternative power-generation fuels such as gas.

Yara International ASA – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Scandinavia

Yara International ASA, Oslo, announced on Dec. 15 that EVP Farming Solutions Terje Knutsen has asked to step down from his current position to work closer to the commercial domain.

At the same time, Yara said it has a need to strengthen the Global Plants & Operational Excellence team, and Knutsen will take up the new position of SVP Global Optimization and Procurement, reporting to Pål Hestad, EVP Global Plants & Operational Excellence.

The Farming Solutions lead team will report to Lars Røsæg, EVP Corporate Development and Deputy CEO, in an acting capacity until Knutsen’s successor is identified.

Australia Taps International Market For AdBlue

Australia, News, News Briefs

Australia will soon receive a critically-needed supply of AdBlue solution from Indonesia, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) report last weekend.

Australia’s federal government is also approaching Middle East countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for supplies, according to the report, amid a domestic supply crunch that is threatening to bring the country’s transport industry to a halt (GM Dec. 10, p. 29). Supplies are being airlifted in, such is “the frantic need to secure supplies,” according to a report by the country’s Daily Mail.

Australia’s transport sector is heavily reliant on diesel trucks, which use AdBlue as an additive to reduce levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution from the diesel engines.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan told ABC there are now around seven weeks of supply left, up over the five weeks’ supply reported late last week, following negotiations with international trading partners.

According to the report, the minister “is confident” that enough product could be supplied in the coming weeks, but he has urged Australian businesses not to stockpile AdBlue in the meantime.

But according to the Daily Mail report, AUSblue, which manufactures half of Australia’s AdBlue, said unless it can source enough product from overseas, there could be major supply chain delays by January.

China typically supplies around 80 percent of the diesel-grade urea Australia uses to make AdBlue solution, but supply has dried up since China imposed restrictions on its urea exports. The AdBlue marketed in Australia contains some 32 percent urea and 68 percent de-ionised water.

Domestic urea manufacturer Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL) late last week said it was looking at ways it can increase manufacturing capacity of the urea used to make AdBlue solution over the next few months. It said it currently supplies around 10 percent of the country’s market for AdBlue solution, and is the only Australian manufacturer to make the solution from urea melt.

IPL produces urea at its Gibson Island plant in Brisbane, but currently “only a very small proportion” of the urea produced there is used to make AdBlue. The plant is set to close at the end of next year (GM Nov. 12, p. 1).

Australia’s current urea supply shortages for making AdBlue have boosted prospects for urea projects under development in the country.

Phillip Staveley, Managing Director of Adelaide-based Leigh Creek Energy, which is developing the Leigh Creek Energy Project (LCEP) in South Australia, told Australia’s Stock & Land the project had been mapped out well before this year’s rapid rise in global fertilizer prices and Australia’s current difficulties with getting urea into the country, but said both factors further strengthened the business case.

The Australian company plans to establish a 1 million mt/y urea facility utilizing in-situ gasification (ISG) at LCEP, located some 550 kilometres north of Adelaide and overlaying the Leigh Creek coalfield (GM Jan. 22, p. 1). Early this month, it inked a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with South Korea’s Daelim Ltd. for an offtake of a minimum of 500,000 mt of granular urea to be produced at LCEP for a minimum of five years (GM Dec. 3, p. 33).

Thebarton, South Australia-based Strike Energy Ltd., whose Project Haber is under development adjacent to Geraldton Port in Western Australia (GM Jan. 15, p. 1), this week secured the award of a A$2 million (approximately US$1.43 million at current exchange rates) matched grant as part of the Australian Federal Government’s Supply Chain Resilience Initiative for Port Haber and also the award of Lead Agency Status by the Western Australia Government, in recognition of the project in terms of generating a material domestic urea manufacturing capability, the company said.

Port Haber includes the development of a 1.4 million mt/y urea plant and an 800,000 mt/y ammonia plant.

Studies Find IPL, FFI Green Ammonia Project at Gibson Island Technically Feasible

Australia, Green Ammonia, News, News Briefs

Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Southbank, Victoria, said preliminary studies have found that the proposed industrial-scale green ammonia project at the company’s Gibson Island facility in Brisbane is technically feasible.

Green energy company Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) is partnering IPL in the project, which was announced in October (GM Oct. 15, p. 1).

IPL said based on preliminary studies conducted by each party, FFI has found the project is technically feasible and has issued IPL a notice to proceed to the next phase.

The parties will now negotiate an agreement to progress the project to a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study, which will verify the commercial feasibility of the project, as a step towards a potential Final Investment Decision, IPL said.

The FEED study will refine cost, schedule, permitting, and commercial agreement, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

The proposed water electrolysis facility would produce up to 50,000 mt/y of renewable hydrogen and be a complete replacement of Gibson Island’s current natural gas feedstock. The renewable hydrogen would be converted into more than 300,000 mt/y of green ammonia for Australia and export markets.

If the project proceeds, it is currently proposed that FFI would construct the on-site water electrolysis plant and develop and operate the hydrogen manufacturing facility, while IPL would operate the ammonia production plant.

IPL last month announced it would end production at Gibson Island at the end of December 2022 after the company was unable to secure an affordable long-term gas supply (GM Nov. 12, p. 1).

The company’s Gibson Island site is currently Australia’s sole urea producer. The site has capacity to produce 340,000 mt/y of granular urea, according to Green Markets data. It also produces ammonia and ammonium sulfate, with nameplate capacity of 300,000 mt/y and 200,000 mt/y, respectively, according to IPL’s website.

IPL Managing Director and CEO Jeanne Johns said the green hydrogen-ammonia project provided the potential to transition Gibson Island to a renewable future.

Orica to Sell Minova to European Firm Aurelius

Australia, Germany, News, News Briefs

Melbourne-based explosives manufacturer Orica Ltd. has agreed to sell its Minova business to Aurelius Group, a European based investment firm, for A$180 million (approximately US$129 million at current exchange rates), subject to transaction costs and customary completion adjustments

Orica announced in May its intention to pursue a sale of Minova, which delivers ground support solutions for the mining, civil/tunneling, geotechnical, and construction industries (GM May 21, p. 34).

Orica Managing Director and CEO Sanjeev Gandhi said in a Dec. 13 statement that the sale of Minova “is consistent with our refreshed strategy, which identified the subsidiary as non-core to Orica.” The divestment will allow the company “to focus on its four key business verticals of growth – mining; quarry and construction; digital; and mining chemicals.”

The Minova business will benefit from new ownership with more focus and capital to support its growth, he said.

In its own statement, Grünwald, Germany-based Aurelius said with the global drive for electrification substantially raising demand for precious metals (hard-rock mining), while thermal coal (soft rock) is in structural decline, Minova, with its globally leading resin know-how, “is ideally placed” to benefit from the ongoing transition from soft rock to hard rock and infrastructure in the coming years.

The investment firm sees “significant growth potential” to be realized from underlying market growth, as well as through investments into global footprint and add-on acquisitions.

Minova reported a 6 percent increase in EBIT to A$22 million in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2021, up from the year-ago A$20.8 million. Revenues came in 1 percent up, at A$474.3 million versus A$468.3 million the previous year. Sales volumes were slightly higher year-on-year.

Orica said in its FY2021 earnings report released in mid-November (GM Nov.12, p. 32) the Minova business remains EBIT and cash flow positive, “driving good momentum into the future”.

The transaction with Aurelius is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Air Products, Thyssenkrupp Ink Contract for 2 Plus GW Electrolysis Plant at Saudi Arabia’s NEOM

Ammonia, Germany, Green Hydrogen, News, News Briefs, Northeast

Air Products, Lehigh Valley, Pa., has awarded Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Uhde Engineers a contract to supply a more than two-gigawatt (GW) electrolysis plant for the world-scale green hydrogen-based ammonia production project it is developing in NEOM, a planned development called a model of sustainable living, in Saudi Arabia.

Under this contract, Thyssenkrupp said it will engineer, procure, and fabricate the plant based on its large-scale 20 megawatt (MW) alkaline water electrolysis module. The start of production is scheduled for 2026.

Air Products is part of a consortium with Riyadh-based ACWA Power International and NEOM, planning to build the $5-billion project, which will produce some 1.2 million mt/y of green ammonia for export to global markets. The partners announced the signing of the agreement for the project in July 2020 (GM July 10, 2020).

Air Products will be the exclusive offtaker of the green ammonia for distribution to global markets.

Japan’s Idemitsu Completes Transportation of Blue Ammonia Cargo From UAE

ADNOC - Abu Dhabi, Blue Ammonia, Japan, News, News Briefs

Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. said it has completed the shipment of the first blue ammonia from the UAE to Japan. The ammonia was sold by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) in partnership with Fertiglobe, the joint-venture partnership between ADNOC and Amsterdam-based OCI NV, and was delivered to Showa Yokkaichi Sekiyu Co. Ltd.’s Yokkaichi refinery.

The blue ammonia was transported in ISO-tank containers.

Fertiglobe is producing the blue ammonia at the Fertil plant in the Ruwais Industrial Complex in Abu Dhabi for delivery to ADNOC’s customers in Japan, and forms part of a planned scale-up of blue ammonia production capabilities in Abu Dhabi, which includes a low-cost debottlenecking program at the Fertil plant (GM Aug. 6, p. 1).

Big Soo Terminal – Management Brief

Management Briefs

Tegra Corp. and Big Soo Terminal on Dec. 17 announced the retirement of Kevin Knepper from his position as General Manager at Big Soo Terminal in Sioux City, Iowa, at the head of navigation on the Missouri River. Knepper served more than 38 years at Big Soo Terminal, with over 30 years in the role of General Manager.

He played an integral role in the growth of Big Soo, the company said, and was consistently focused on the success of Big Soo’s customers. Knepper also worked with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers during the decade-long review of the Missouri River Master Manual in the early 2000’s.

Dan Pearson will succeed Knepper as General Manager. Prior to joining Big Soo, Pearson spent 18 years with Tyson Foods Inc., with a focus in Operations as well as Inventory Systems Management and Development.