Agrium Inc. quickly responded to a presentation—“Unlocking Agrium’s True Value Potential” by Jana Partners LLC Co-Founder Barry Rosenstein before the Value Investing Conference in New York Oct. 1.

“There is nothing new in statements by Jana today,” said Michael Wilson, Agrium president and CEO. “Agrium remains confident that shareholders will receive far greater value, with less risk, under the company’s current strategy.”

Agrium reiterated that it has met with Jana, the largest shareholder with just over 4 percent of shares, and with its other shareholders. It said there is overwhelming shareholder support to continue Agrium’s integrated strategy.

Jana did put a new number in the public arena — $50 per share. It believes there is a $50 per share value creation opportunity if Agrium follows its advice, including the spin-off of Retail. To get to the $50 per share, it says $15-$20 would come by addressing the conglomeration discount, by eliminating the sum of parts discount from improving retail disclosure and announcing a plan to separate Retail via a tax free spin transaction.

Another $20 plus per share would come from rationalizing costs, eliminating excess cost in Retail to realize inherent operating leverage and from reducing excessive unallocated corporate overhead. At least $10 per share would come from releasing excess working capital and from committing to a more aggressive and more consistent return of capital through increased dividends and buybacks. Additional value would be created by adding real distribution executives to the board of directors who can better define operational and strategic goals and properly incentivize management to achieve them.

The Mosaic Co. cited lower phosphate prices and volumes for a drop in earnings and revenues for the first fiscal quarter ending Aug. 31, 2012 versus the year-ago quarter. Net earnings were off 18 percent to $429 million ($1.01 per diluted share) on sales of $2.5 billion, down from the year-ago $526 million ($1.17 per share) on sales of $3.1 billion. Regardless, the company reiterated that the long-term outlook for crop nutrition is outstanding.

CVR Energy, Inc. said Sept. 30 that it launched an immediate internal investigation into the cause of the boiler explosion that occurred at the Wynnewood, Okla., refinery on Friday evening, Sept. 28, fatally injuring one employee and critically injuring another.

The explosion occurred at approximately 6:20 p.m. as operators were restarting a boiler that had been temporarily shut down as part of the refinery’s turnaround process.

"I would like to express my deepest sympathy for the employees and families affected by this tragedy," said Jack Lipinski, CVR Energy CEO. "We are conducting a thorough investigation of the incident and cooperating fully with OSHA and the Oklahoma Department of Labor.

"Our focus is to determine how this accident occurred and what steps must be taken to avoid a repeat of this incident. We remain committed to providing a safe working environment for our employees and contractors," he said.

Damage at the refinery was limited to the boiler. Process units and other areas of the facility were unaffected. Additionally, there has been no evidence of environmental impact. No damage estimates were immediately available.

The turnaround, which is a periodic shutdown of the operations, allows for necessary maintenance and upkeep of operating units. The Wynnewood refinery turnaround resumed Saturday.

"We want to thank Wynnewood and Garvin County emergency response teams for their rapid response and assistance," said Wayne Leiker, vice president and refinery manager. "We had immediate support from the community, local clergy, the city and first responders.

"I especially want to thank our employees and contractors for their support, hard work and dedication during this difficult time," Leiker said.

Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, CVR Energy Inc.’s subsidiary and affiliated businesses operate independent refining assets in Coffeyville, Kan. and Wynnewood, Okla. with more than 185,000 barrels per day of processing capacity, a marketing network for supplying high value transportation fuels to customers through tanker trucks and pipeline terminals, and a crude oil gathering system serving Kansas, Oklahoma, western Missouri, southwestern Nebraska and Texas.

In addition, CVR Energy subsidiaries own a majority interest in and serve as the general partner of CVR Partners LP, a producer of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate, or UAN, fertilizers.

Sifto Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan., has signed a new collective agreement with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 16-O, which represents approximately 400 employees at the company’s salt mine in Goderich, Ont. The agreement was ratified by the union membership on Sept. 29, ending the union’s strike which began Aug. 20.

A tentative agreement had been reached on Aug. 28. The union remained on strike an additional four weeks until the new three-year agreement was ratified on Saturday.
“We’re pleased that the union has ratified the mutually beneficial agreement, and we look forward to having all of our Goderich mine employees back to work,” said Angelo Brisimitzakis, Compass Minerals’ president and CEO. “Production and shipping continued during the strike; our customers should have all the salt they need this upcoming winter.”

The final agreement, which includes competitive wage increases, more flexible production scheduling and skill improvements associated with the company’s investment in continuous mining technology, has no material changes from terms of the tentative agreement the parties previously reached.

Compass Minerals is a leading producer of minerals, including salt, sulfate of potash specialty fertilizer and magnesium chloride.

CVR Energy Inc. today announced that CVR Refining LP (CVR Refining), an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a proposed initial public offering of its common units representing limited partner interests. CVR Refining intends to list its common units on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CVRR." The number of common units to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. All of the common units to be sold in this offering (including the common units that may be sold to satisfy the underwriters’ over-allotment option) will be sold by CVR Refining.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. will act as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective.

Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, CVR Energy Inc.’s subsidiary and affiliated businesses operate independent refining assets in Coffeyville, Kan. and Wynnewood, Okla., with more than 185,000 barrels per day of processing capacity, a marketing network for supplying high value transportation fuels to customers through tanker trucks and pipeline terminals, and a crude oil gathering system serving central Kansas, Oklahoma, western Missouri, southwestern Nebraska and Texas. In addition, CVR Energy subsidiaries own a majority interest in and serve as the general partner of CVR Partners LP, a producer of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate, or UAN, fertilizers.

It took a while, but major players have concluded new business for Tampa for October. New business has been concluded at $715/mt CFR, up $10/mt from September’s $705/mt.

Dyno Nobel, a subsidiary of Incitec Pivot Ltd., announced today its plans to continue investment into manufacturing diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). Utilizing its existing plants, the company expects to have two of its North American manufacturing facilities dispatching DEF in bulk by third quarter 2013. DEF production will be expanded at Dyno Nobel’s St. Helens,Ore., plant and introduced at its Cheyenne, Wyo. plant.

Once expansion activities are complete, St. Helens will offer increased production capacity, additional storage (with two new 100,000 gallon tanks) and improved truck and railcar loading facilities. New capacity will be available by the end of fourth quarter 2012.

The company is also making capital investments to introduce the production capability to manufacture DEF at Cheyenne. The project incorporates two 100,000 gallon storage tanks and both truck and railcar loading capability and is anticipated to be completed by third quarter 2013.

"This new capacity will certainly be welcomed by the DEF market” said Chris Telschow, Dyno Nobel Industrial Chemicals Sales Manager. “Our high quality product and excellent loading capability continues to attract significant interest from DEF customers within our region."

Ohio Valley Resources LLC (OVR), Fairfield, Ill., filed an air permit application with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) on Sept. 17, 2012, to construct a new $1 billion nitrogen fertilizer facility in Spencer County, Ind.

On the same day, OVR entered into technology licensing agreements with KBR of Houston, Texas, to provide the essential ammonia process production units necessary for the proposed facility. The agreement with KBR also includes a front-end engineering design (FEED) package to develop a lump-sum turnkey engineer, procure, and construct (EPC) price for the project. Weatherly Inc., Atlanta, Ga., will supply the design of its proprietary urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) plant on a subcontract to KBR as part of the overall project. OVR has retained Morley and Associates of Newburgh, Ind., to assist with off-site utilities and related infrastructure.

OVR says the new ammonia plant will be the first entirely new facility of its type to be constructed in America by a U.S.-based firm in more than a quarter-century. It will use the latest version of KBR’s Purifier Process and therefore will consume less energy than ammonia plants currently operating in the United States. The project is made economically viable by a recent decrease in natural gas prices due to domestic shale gas development. It will feature state-of-the-art emission-control technologies that comply with current federal and state environmental regulations.

As global demand for nitrogen fertilizer has increased, the U.S. has become one of the world’s largest importers of this important commodity. This has resulted in America’s farmers and food supply becoming more dependent on foreign sources of essential fertilizer products. According to data from the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 54 percent of the U.S. nitrogen supply – or approximately 10.79 million tons – was imported in 2011.

According to Doug Wilson, President/CEO of Ohio Valley Resources, this project represents a major step forward in reviving domestic production of critical nitrogen fertilizer products to serve the Eastern Corn Belt. “Our goal is to restore jobs to the United States that have been lost for years by displacing imported sources of fertilizer products,” Wilson said. “We are excited that our new plant will help to stabilize the supply and price of nitrogen fertilizers to support the regional agricultural economy.”

Tentative plans call for the nitrogen fertilizer plant to be located on approximately 150 acres in Spencer County north of Rockport. Its location will allow convenient rail and highway access, as well as the potential for river access. Other competing sites in Kentucky are still being evaluated.

The facility will produce approximately 2,420 tons per day of ammonia and 3,000 tons per day of urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution for fertilizer. Some of the ammonia production will serve the local utility markets for NOx control (known as selective catalytic reduction units or SCRs), which reduces emissions in coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities. In addition, the plant will produce 300 tons per day of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), a urea solution used to reduce emissions in diesel engines.

“Not only will our new plant play a key role in boosting domestic agricultural production, but it will also provide a reliable source of emissions-control products to support a cleaner environment,” Wilson said. “This will all be done by American workers using domestic sources of low-cost natural gas.”

Approximately 1,200 workers will be needed to construct the plant over a three-year period. Upon its projected completion in 2016, the facility will provide approximately 80 full-time jobs.