Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry and the Israel Lands Authority have published a pre-qualifying tender for the construction and operation of an ammonia plant in southern Israel. The ministry said on Jan. 28 that the plant is to replace the ammonia storage facility in Haifa and supply the needs of the domestic market, which are currently met by imports.

The tender calls for production of 150,000 mt/y of ammonia and is to be located in Mishor Rotem, east of Beer Sheba. The initial location was to be at Ramat Hovav, but the new site was approved due to its proximity to the national gas transmission network and to customers. The minimum requirement is for production of 120,000 mt/y, which is the current annual domestic consumption.

The cost of the ammonia plant is put at $250 million, and it would be run on natural gas supplied from Israel’s offshore reserves. The tender will also allow the winning bidder to build downstream plants including urea, melamine, and methanol.

Three groups have expressed interest in the project: Israel’s Baran Group in cooperation with Germany’s Linde Group; Israel’s Ratio Oil Exploration; and Dor Chemicals. The Baran-Linde group is looking to build both an ammonia and urea plant, Ratio is interested only in an ammonia plant, and Dor has proposed a plant to produce both ammonia and methanol.

The new ammonia plant will enable the shutdown of the 12,000 mt ammonia storage facility in Haifa, which is owned and operated by Haifa Chemicals, a leading fertilizer company. In October 2013 the Israeli government approved a decision to shut down of the Haifa facility by 2017, citing security risks due to its location in a populated area. Environmental groups and the Haifa Municipality have for years been campaigning to move the facility.

The Andersons have added Ferti Technologies Inc. of Saint-Michel, Canada, to a patent infringement suit initiated late last year. The infringement suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, involves three patents related to dispersible granular fertilizer technology. Ferti Technologies is the fourth party cited in the suit along Enviro Granulation LLC of South Carolina; Plant Science Inc. of Ontario, Canada and Harrell’s LLC of Lakeland, Florida. As of Jan. 27, the defendants had not filed answers to the complaint.

The Andersons said its investment in intellectual property is limited, however, but research and development is crucial to the success of its professional turf business and the company will defend its technology in this suit and others if necessary.

The Andersons introduced its dispersible granular technology in 2004 under the brand name Contec DG^®. It says Contec DG^® products serve golf courses nationwide.

Major players have concluded ammonia business at Tampa at $415/mt CFR for February, down from January’s original $450/mt CFR. In the meantime, Mosaic had been able to buy a spot cargo at $415/mt CFR, putting pressure on Yara to lower its price ideas for February.

Dakota Gasification Company announced on Jan. 28 that its board of directors has approved the addition of a urea production facility at Dakota Gas’ Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, N.D. The board approval came at a special meeting on Jan. 27, the company said.

The project includes construction of a storage facility that will hold approximately 53,000 st of granular urea, as well as a new load-out facility for trucks and railcars with the capacity to load up to 110 railcars in a single shipment. The urea plant is scheduled for completion in early 2017, and will produce 1,100 st of urea daily. The new facility is projected to cost approximately $402 million.

Dakota Gas currently produces two other fertilizers – ammonia and ammonium sulfate (Dak Sul 45®) – at the Beulah facility. Urea, which requires anhydrous ammonia and carbon dioxide for production, will mark the 10th co-product for the Synfuels plant.

According to Paul Sukut, Dakota Gas interim CEO and general manager, urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid fertilizers, but costs less to handle, store, and transport than other nitrogen-based fertilizers. “We are happy to build on the fertilizer products we already manufacture, and believe the addition of urea will bring more benefit to the agricultural community,” Sukut said.

The new facility will also produce diesel emission fluid (DEF), the 11th co-product for the Synfuels Plant. DEF is used to reduce NOx emissions in diesel engines, as mandated by the federal government on all new diesel engines. A 1.1-million gallon stainless steel storage tank will be constructed at the plant to store the DEF.

Dakota Gas first announced that it was considering a urea plant in Beulah in October 2012, when its board of directors approved funding to study the facility. This Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study was completed in October 2013.

Dakota Gas is a subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. The company’s $2.1 billion Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah began operating in 1984, and produces pipeline-quality natural gas and related co-products from a coal gasification process. Average daily production of natural gas is about 153 million cubic feet, the majority of which is piped to Ventura, Iowa, for distribution in the eastern U.S.

The facility’s maximum annual production capacity for anhydrous ammonia and ammonium sulfate is approximately 400,000 st and 110,000 st, respectively. The Beulah facility also captures 2.5-3 million mt of carbon dioxide per year, which it supplies to the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project in Saskatchewan.

Canpotex announced on Jan. 24 that it has reached agreement with Sinochem Fertilizer Macao Commerical Offshore Ltd. (Sinofert) for the supply of 700,000 mt of potash to China during the first half of 2014. Canpotex said the new contract “is priced at current and competitive market levels.”

The report follows a Jan. 20 announcement from Russian potash producer Uralkali that it had reached an agreement for first-half 2014 potash deliveries to China with a buying consortium headed by CNAMPGC, a major Chinese agrochemical corporation, for 700,000 mt at $305/mt. That level reflects a $95/mt drop from the first-half 2013 contract price of $400/mt reached between China and major potash producers in January 2013.

“We are very pleased to sign a supply contract with our long-term Chinese customer, and to continue our history of being a leading supplier to this important market,” said Steven Dechka, Canpotex president and CEO. “We look forward to meeting China’s future growing potash needs in collaboration with our Chinese partner.”

Canpotex is the exclusive offshore marketing company owned by Saskatchewan potash producers Agrium Inc., The Mosaic Co., and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.

Uralkali announced on Jan. 20 that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Uralkali Trading, has reached an agreement for first-half 2014 potash deliveries to China with a buying consortium headed by CNAMPGC, one of the major Chinese agrochemical corporations. The contract is for 700,000 mt at $305/mt, and the contract period runs through June 30, 2014.

That level reflects a $95/mt drop from the first-half 2013 contract price of $400/mt reached between China and major potash producers in January 2013 (GM Jan. 7, Jan. 21, 2013).

“The contracts between Uralkali and the Chinese companies clearly testify to growing demand and the beginning of market recovery,” said Oleg Petrov, Uralkali director for sales and marketing. “The terms of the agreement with our Chinese partners are mutually beneficial and serve the interests of our consumers, agricultural producers of the PRC.”

Sanctions against some Iranian exports – including ammonia and urea – are being eased under an agreement between the P5+1 and the Iranian government. The deal took effect Jan. 20 as Iran began opening its nuclear facilities for inspection and promises that it would not seek or develop nuclear weapons. The P5+1 — the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China, coordinated by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton — reached a deal with Iran Jan. 12 to take effect Jan. 20. The Western countries agreed to a six-month easing of sanctions on a variety of goods and services, including Iranian petrochemicals. According to the U.S. Treasury Department guidelines, petrochemical products from Iran include aromatic, olefin, and synthesis gas along with their derivatives, including ammonia and urea. All deals must be signed and concluded before the end of the temporary relief of sanctions program, July 20, 2014. U.S. companies and individuals will continue to be banned from directly engaging in the trade or purchase of the newly released items. The only exception is related to humanitarian goods.

Along with the temporary lifting of the sanctions, the Treasury Department released the names of the Iranian companies that are no longer subject to sanctions. The following 14 companies are the only ones that may participate in exports of Iranian petrochemical products:

   
• Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company   
• Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Company
• Ghaed Bassir Petrochemical Products Company
• Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company
• Jam Petrochemical Company
• Marjan Petrochemical Company
• Mobin Petrochemical Company
• National Petrochemical Company
• Nouri Petrochemical Company
• Pars Petrochemical Company
• Sadaf Petrochemical Assaluyeh Company
• Shahid Tondgooyan Petrochemical Company
• Shazand Petrochemical Company
• Tabriz Petrochemical Company

Restrictions on financing have also been eased.

The temporary lifting of sanctions also allows Iranian depository institutions to handle financing for the exports. Under the Treasury Department guidelines, that means “any entity (including foreign branches), wherever located, organized under the laws of Iran or any jurisdiction within Iran, or owned or controlled by the Government of Iran, or in Iran, or owned or controlled by any of the foregoing, that is engaged primarily in the business of banking (for example, banks, savings banks, savings associations, credit unions, trust companies, and bank holding companies)” may be used for the deals.

The full resource page on the sanctions against Iran and how those sanctions have changed can be found at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/iran.aspx.

A page with the most common questions about the changes in the sanctions is available at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/jpoa_faqs.pdf

Agrium Inc. has announced that it expects its fourth quarter 2013 earnings from continuing operations to be at the bottom of the previously released guidance range of $0.80-$1.25 per diluted share. The update to guidance is primarily due to lower than expected sales prices across all Wholesale nutrients in the quarter and lower than expected UAN and domestic potash sales volumes, partly due to challenges with domestic rail shipments. Agrium’s Retail operations are expected to achieve record results for the fourth quarter and for the 2013 year. Retail was able to offset industry headwinds of lower nutrient prices and a compressed fall season in the U.S. by achieving higher margins for nutrients, seed and services and other product lines.

Corporate inter-segment eliminations, largely related to Wholesale nutrient volumes that have been purchased by Retail but have not yet been sold to end customers, were higher than anticipated. These eliminations postpone the recognition of these sales and impacted earnings by approximately $18-million in the fourth quarter of 2013. Earnings from these sales will be recognized once Retail completes the sale to end-customers this spring.

Agrium also expects to report a number of one-time adjustments in the fourth quarter of 2013 that are excluded from the fourth quarter guidance. This includes a purchase gain of approximately $250-million related to the acquisition of the Viterra Agri-business on Oct. 1, 2013. Pertaining to the AWB Ltd. / Landmark acquisition, it will reflect the receipt of approximately $70-million for an insurance recovery relating to a long-standing litigation case on soybean shipments and a goodwill impairment of approximately $220-million in Landmark due to lower than expected business performance and delays in synergy realization.