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Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) – Management Briefs

Management Briefs

Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL) has streamlined its domestic fertilizer distribution business, Incitec Pivot Fertilisers, and its international trading business, Southern Cross International, into one business unit. The new unit will be known as Incitec Pivot Fertilisers.

James Whiteside, currently chief operating officer of IPL’s supply chain and trading business unit, as well as CEO of Southern Cross International and Quantum Fertilisers, IPL’s trading businesses, has been appointed as the chief operating officer of Incitec Pivot Fertilisers. He has more than 30 years of experience across the international and domestic fertilizer industry, including the past twenty years with the IPL Group.

As a result of combining the two businesses, Gary Brinkworth will leave the group. IPL thanked him for his contribution over the last three years.

Orica Ltd. – Management Briefs

Management Briefs

Orica Ltd. has appointed Gavin Jackman to the role of global head of corporate affairs and social responsibility. Orica says he brings a wide range of private and public sector experience in the area of public affairs, both in Australia and globally. He will be joining the executive committee and will report directly to Ian Smith, Orica’s managing director and CEO. The appointment is effective July 18, 2012.

Ronald Johnson – Management Brief

Management Briefs

Ronald Johnson, 84, passed away April 2. His entire career was spent in the fertilizer business. He held many positions within Agrico Chemical Co., including domestic and international sales, as well as several executive positions, and retired in 1986 as president of Agrico Fertilizer Co. He and his wife Betty resided in Tulsa, Okla., and Lake Wales, Fla.

John Duffy – Management Briefs

Management Briefs

John Duffy, 77, passed away April 2 after a 19-month battle with metastatic melanoma. He had a long career in agricultural minerals marketing, and in 1999 retired as vice president of worldwide sales and marketing with Mississippi Chemical Corp., relocating to Denton, Texas. He was also a past chairman of the Southwestern Fertilizer Conference.

Duffy received a B.S. in Geology from the University of Oklahoma and a Professional Masters Degree from Harvard Business School.

In addition to his wife of 49 years, Sue, he is survived by two daughters, Shauna and Kristy, and two grandchildren.

Funeral Mass will be at 1:00 p.m. on April 10 at St. Mark Catholic Church, Denton. A gathering with the family will follow immediately after at Southmont Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to MD Anderson Cancer Center Melanoma Research at www.mdanderson.org/how-you-can-help/melanoma-vaccines.html or the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) at www.omrf.org.

BASF, EuroChem close deal

Calcium Ammonium Nitrate, Eastern Europe, News, News Briefs, Russia

Ludwigshafen and Moscow — BASF has completed the sale of its fertilizer activities in Antwerp, Belgium, to EuroChem as of March 31, 2012, as planned. The appropriate antitrust authorities have given their approval for the transaction. The total purchase price amounts to around €830 million (US$1.1 billion), including a deferred part of circa €130 million payable over the period 2013 to 2016. This transaction will lead to an expected pre-tax disposal gain of approximately €600 million for BASF in the first quarter of 2012. The scope of the transaction includes plants for calcium ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, NPK fertilizers, and nitrophosphoric acid, as well as three related nitric acid plants. The activities were carved out into a separate company, now named EuroChem Antwerpen NV. About 330 employees have been transferred to the new company. “With the purchase of these facilities we are continuing our strategy to increase our share in the global fertilizer market, both through organic growth and acquisitions,” said EuroChem CEO Dmitry Strezhnev. “I am looking forward to working with the highly experienced team in Antwerp.” “EuroChem is a strategic partner who will support and further strengthen our Verbund concept of integration at our site in Antwerp. My thanks go to our former employees who have done excellent work over the past years,” said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board of executive directors of BASF SE and responsible for the chemicals segment.

BioNitrogen signs LOI for second plant

News, News Briefs, Urea

Miami — BioNitrogen Corp. said April 2 that it has lined up another site to build a biomass-to-urea plant. The company said it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to construct the company’s second planned fertilizer plant at the Levelland Industrial Rail Park, Levelland, Texas. The LOI is between The Levelland Economic Development Corp. (LEDC) and BioNitrogen, and summarizes the understanding that BioNitrogen plans to construct a new manufacturing plant to use local organic matter as an input to produce urea for the region. The first plant is to be built in Lubbock, Texas (GM Feb. 27, p. 9) at a cost estimated to be $65 million; it will employ at least 35 full-time employees once fully operational. The LOI outlines that the LEDC will convey to the Company Lot Number 1 of the Levelland Industrial Rail Park in Levelland, Texas (approximately 24.5 acres) for the purchase price of $850,000.00 (market value), being equivalent to $35,000.00 per acre x 24.5 acres. Based on the projected capital investment and employment levels, the LEDC will provide the land at no cost provided that all due diligence is met in accordance with LEDC requirements. The modular plants are expected to have a design capacity capable of manufacturing up to 15 tons of urea fertilizer per hour for a total annual production of up to approximately 124,200 tons per plant, which anticipates 20 days for equipment maintenance and upkeep.

Linde to furnish NH3, other units for Sadara

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Western

Munich — The Linde Group will design, deliver, and construct the new turnkey gas facilities – ammonia, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen – at Sadara Chemical Co.’s site in the Jubail 2 petrochemical cluster in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The project includes a single-stream NH3 unit producing waterless liquid ammonia, as well as a large NH3 storage tank. Linde’s investment in the project is expected to be $380 million. The production units are scheduled to be ready in 2015. Once built, they will be operated by Linde’s Gases Division. Sadara, which is a joint venture of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Co., will use carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and ammonia, primarily for the production of aromatics, isocyanates (MDI and TDI), amines, and hydrogen peroxide. Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and 2,4 toluene diisocyanate (TDI) are used in the production of polyurethanes, an essential component in many products, ranging from synthetic fibers through insulating foam and adhesives to mattresses and car seats. Sadara will construct, own, and operate a world-scale integrated chemicals complex at the site with a differentiated product mix, most of which will be produced locally for the first time.

SES looks to upgrade ChinaÆs ammonia industry

Ammonia, China, Houston, TX, News, News Briefs

Houston — Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. (SES) said April 5 that it has entered into a cooperation framework agreement for coal-to-ammonia for the fertilizer market in China with Beijing Zhonghuan Engineering & Project Management Co. Ltd. (ZEP). Under the agreement, SES and ZEP will jointly explore undertaking a nitrogenous fertilizer retrofit project using SES’ U-GAS® gasification technology, with the goal of developing it into a demonstration project. If the results of this undertaking are successful, SES and ZEP intend to establish an exclusive cooperation based upon retrofitting many of the existing ammonia projects in the nitrogenous fertilizer industry in China with SES gasification technology, combined with ZEP engineering and project management. Today, China’s ammonia production for fertilizers relies heavily upon a large number of projects utilizing outdated coal-conversion technologies that require expensive coals such as anthracite, and a process that results in significant environmental damage. The parties are developing a turnkey solution that includes integrated design, equipment, technology, and installation packages for refueling these projects to low cost, lower quality coals through utilizing SES’ gasification technology, which is much more environmentally benign, and are simultaneously identifying and developing the initial customer opportunities for the cooperation. ZEP Vice Chairman Yu Yiyao said China is the world’s largest producer of ammonia, with annual production of approximately 60 million mt. He said there are 472 nitrogenous fertilizer companies in China operating approximately 3,500 inefficient atmospheric fixed-bed intermittent gasifiers that require some of the most expensive coal available, have significant limitations in terms of resources and energy, have a large environmental impact, and have production costs that are especially high. "We have studied the application of SES’ technology in this industry and estimate that one SES gasification system has the capability to retrofit five of the old-generation systems, offering a large available market of approximately 700 units for our packaged solution,” he said.

Projects proposed for cleanup of Alafia River

News, News Briefs, Tampa

Mulberry, Fla. — Way back in 1997 a spill by Mulberry Phosphates of 56 million gallons of acidic water caused havoc for marine life in the Alafia River, which flows from Mulberry in Polk County through Hillsborough County and into Tampa Bay. Last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued a report of how to spend some $2.4 million of the $3.7 million settlement the company paid for the damage. Although most of the 377 acres damaged was closest to Mulberry’s processing plant, the money will be spent on portions of the river in Hillsborough County. FDEP said the reason the money will not be spent in Polk County was because the restoration projects there were either on private property or would not have provided significant improvements. Instead, the work will be at Hillsborough County’s Balm-Boyette Scrub Preserve, near Brandon. The plan has been sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for review, according to The Ledger, the daily newspaper in Lakeland, Fla. The start date will be sometime in 2013.