Cairo-Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) said it made US$10 million from its investment in Gavilon LLC, Omaha, in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2010, and $29.3 million during the first nine months. In other fertilizer news, OCI sold 1 million mt of nitrogen-based fertilizer during the third quarter and 2.6 million for the first nine months of 2010. Going forward it is upbeat as to nitrogen prices, saying China, Russia, and Ukraine will likely have to keep more of their product at home to meet local demand. During the quarter, OCI said it reduced its stake in Nigerian fertilizer company Notore Chemicals Industries Ltd. from 23 percent to 13.5 percent, posting a capital gain of $19.1 million. Company-wide, OCI reported third quarter net income of $147.6 million on sales of $1.25 billion, up from the year-ago $120.7 million on sales of $933.4 million. Nine-month net income was $408.4 million on sales of $3.58 billion, up from the year-ago net income of $328.5 million on sales of $2.85 billion.

Singapore-Olam International Ltd., a global integrated supply chain manager and processor of agricultural products and food ingredients, has announced that it has entered into an 80-20 joint venture with the Republic of Gabon to construct a port-based ammonia and urea complex for a total investment of US$1.3 billion. The complex is targeted to begin operations in the first half of 2014 and run at a full capacity of 2,200 mt/d of ammonia and 3,850 mt/d of urea by fiscal year 2015, producing a total of 1.3 million mt/y of urea. Olam says it has signed a 25-year competitive fixed-price natural gas contract with Gabon to secure a guaranteed quantity and quality of gas as feedstock for the plant. Gabon will hold 20 percent of the venture and guarantee its portion of the debt. The jv will be granted a 10-year tax holiday after the plant starts commercial production, followed by a 10 percent concessional tax rate thereafter. The project will have zero customs duty and VAT for the lifetime of the project. In addition, Olam has signed an agreement to develop a 50,000 hectare palm plantation in the country, with an investment of $236 million. Olam will hold a 70 percent stake and Gabon 30 percent. According to Olam, Gabon has committed to the jv a land bank of 300,000 hectares of palm and rubber plantation development in multiple phases, with the 50,000 hectares developed as phase one.

Santiago-Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) reported a 11.3 percent uptick in net income for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2010, to US$94.8 million on revenues of $459.5 million, up from the year-ago net income of $85.2 million on revenues of $383.8 million. Nine-month net income was $276.3 million on revenues of $1.32 billion, up from $259.4 million on revenues of $1.05 billion. “During the first nine months of 2010 demand for all of our business segments has recovered more robustly than initially expected, reflecting the strong, underlying fundamentals in each market,” said Patricio Contesse, SQM CEO. “We anticipate that this momentum will continue during the remaining months of the year and through next year, and considering that the company is in a unique position to capture growth in each of its markets, we remain optimistic.” Revenues from SQM’s largest business, specialty plant nutrients (SPN), moved up to $151.5 million in the third quarter from the year-ago $141.7 million, while nine-month revenues were $452.5 million, compared to the year-ago $400.3 million.

Melbourne-Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL) reported net profit after tax of A$410.5 million on revenues of $2.93 billion for the year ending Sept. 30, 2010, compared to the year-ago loss of $221.4 million on revenues of $3.42 billion. The company said its mix of earnings was 50-50 explosives and fertilizers. IPL said its 330,000 mt/y A$935 million Moranbah ammonium nitrate project, which is due up by the end of March 2012, is already 90 percent sold out ?Çô 40 percent as emulsion and the rest as ammonium nitrate. The project is now 55 percent complete. Dyno Nobel Americas delivered an increased EBIT of US$147.9 million, up from the year-ago $145.4 million, despite flat market conditions and a 2 percent reduction in revenue. During the year it resigned Peabody Coal, which is IPL’s largest customer globally. Plant turnarounds were completed both at Cheyenne, Wyo., and St. Helens, Ore. Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific achieved a 60 percent EBIT increase to A$176 million, up from the year-ago $109.8 million. Incitec Pivot Fertilisers reported EBIT of A$334.4 million, up 11 percent over 2009.

Tel Aviv-Israel Chemical Ltd. reported that its ICL Fertilizer unit reported increased operating income for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2010, to $720.7 million on sales of $2.34 billion, up from the year-ago operating income of $503.8 million on sales of $1.51 billion. The company reported a sharp rise in sales of potash and phosphate fertilizers and higher selling prices for phosphate fertilizers, offset somewhat by lower prices for potash and phosphate rock. During the first nine months, the unit sold 4.1 million mt of potash, including internal sales more than double the quantity sold during the year-ago period. It sold 1.4 million mt of phosphate fertilizers, a 74 percent increase compared to year-ago levels. ICL noted huge increases in potash imports by China during the first nine months (3.6 million mt vs. year-ago 1.8 million mt), India (4.4 million mt vs. 1.9 million mt) and Brazil (4.5 million mt vs. 1.9 million mt). Third-quarter fertilizer income was off, at $212.5 million on sales of $753.3 million from the year-ago income of $253.5 million on sales of $677.1 million. Company-wide, ICL reported nine-month net income to shareholders of $779.3 million on sales of $4.27 billion, up from the year-ago income of $567.7 million on sales of $3.33 billion. Third-quarter income was $242.9 million on sales of $1.39 billion, down from the year-ago income of $256.6 million on sales of $1.35 billion. The third-quarter dip in income was attributed to higher income taxes of $47 million, reflecting the appreciation of the shekel against the dollar. ICL has declared a dividend totaling $170 million to be paid Jan. 12, 2011, in respect to third-quarter results.

Oslo-Yara International ASA has confirmed that it has been granted access to documents after it brought legal action Nov. 9 (GM Nov. 15, p. 16), against Burrup Holdings Ltd. (Burrup) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd., after those companies blocked attempts to allow an independent auditor to undertake a full inspection of Burrup’s books. Yara exercised its rights as a 35 percent shareholder of Burrup to carry out the audit.

West Palm Beach, Fla.-Several sources last week reported that the Oxbow Group was in talks to acquire International Commodities Export Corp. (ICEC), Houston, or that a transaction may have already occurred. Neither of the very private companies would confirm or deny the reports, though an Oxbow spokesman did say on Nov. 22 that any report that a deal had been done would be premature. Founded by Bill Koch, Oxbow is a major energy and commodities trading company. According to its Web site, Oxbow’s Oxbow Carbon and its two affiliated companies Gunnison Energy and Oxbow Steel International have yearly sales of $2.4 billion, combined assets of nearly $2 billion, and over 1,100 employees worldwide. Oxbow’s primary businesses are the mining and marketing of energy and commodities such as coal, natural gas, petroleum, and metallurgical and calcined petroleum coke. It has some 15 locations in the U.S. and 21 internationally. ICEC was founded in 1948 by a group that included industry stalwart and now-retired ICEC CEO Emil Sherer Finley. ICEC operates in some 20 locations around the world as a marketing, logistics, and distribution company specializing in sulfur, sulfuric acid, and fertilizers.

Washington-Pakistan should outlaw or at least temporarily ban ?Çô ammonium nitrate, which is finding its way into Afghanistan in staggering amounts for making improvised explosive devices for use against NATO forces, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., declared at a recent hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on “How to Jam the IED Assembly Line Impeding the Flow of Ammonium Nitrate in South and Central Asia.” Casey explained that he understood farmers in Pakistan rely on AN as a fertilizer, especially for cotton, but offered that officials may want to consider a temporary ban during this precarious period. A local ban was instituted in the Multan district earlier this year as militant attacks were on the rise. At a minimum, Pakistani authorities need a coherent legislative framework in order to better regulate this dangerous chemical, says Casey, who said IEDs are the chief killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He has targeted ammonium nitrate, which is more often smuggled over the porous Pakistani border for nefarious purposes, as the primary explosive ingredient behind them. “The statistics are sobering,” Casey asserted. “More than 6,000 IEDs have been discovered in Afghanistan so far this year, and the devices have killed 190 U.S. soldiers, wounding 2,459 more. According to the Pentagon, four out of five IEDs are built with ammonium nitrate smuggled into Afghanistan.”

Saskatoon-The U-Sea Saskatchewan departed on its maiden voyage from Japan on Nov. 4 and arrived Nov. 19 in Vancouver. It is the first of nine vessels being built for Canpotex through a joint venture with U-Sea Bulk of Copenhagen, Denmark. The first vessel is named for the Province of Saskatchewan; the remaining eight will be named after the cities of Saskatoon and Regina and six of Canpotex members’ ten potash mine locations in Saskatchewan. “In order to keep our customers supplied with quality Saskatchewan potash on a consistent and timely basis, we require reliable and state-of-the-art handling and transportation systems,” said Scott Rudderham, Canpotex vice president, operations. A number of provincial and Canadian officials were on hand to welcome the vessel into the port. From Vancouver’s Canada Place, the vessel will sail to Canpotex’s Neptune Terminals facility in North Vancouver, where 58,000 mt of Saskatchewan potash will be loaded for a 21-day journey to Thailand and on to Indonesia. “Following delivery, this potash will be used to fertilize important crops such as rice and oil palm,” Rudderham said, noting that in addition to marketing and transporting Saskatchewan potash, Canpotex invests in market development programs that educate farmers about the benefits of balanced fertilizer applications. Canpotex has more than US$900 million in forward vessel commitments, including a total of 15 new vessels to be delivered between 2010 and 2014 through various joint ventures.

Coffeyville, Kan.-Coffeyville Resources LLC, the nitrogen fertilizer unit of CVR Energy Inc., Sugar Land, Texas, reported to the National Response Center that an unknown amount of anhydrous ammonia was released from a flare Nov. 20 due to a plant shutdown. CVR said it does not comment on day-to-day operations of the plant and did not respond to inquiries as to whether the plant was back up. The company had just announced Nov. 16 that the UAN plant had returned to production (GM Nov. 22, p. 11).