The Trading Corp. of Pakistan changed the terms for the urea tender that closes July 17.

The new terms require companies offering tons in the tender to quote only one price for all Pakistani ports instead of different rates for different ports.

In the last tender, the lowest offer from Toepfer was designated for Gwandar port. The TCP tender review committee ruled that Toepfer had not fulfilled the terms of the tender by specifying the port of discharge. The committee awarded a contract to Transammonia. It was then overruled, Toepfer was awarded the tender but then Toepfer declined the award.

In order to avoid any future problems, TCP altered the July 17 tender documents to make it clear that the offered price would be for any port of the buyer’s choice.

The move comes in an already unusual tender.

TCP was given dispensation from the normal 30-day notice period to allow it to buy up to 300,000 mt as soon as possible. Also, the minimum offer requirements were moved up from the normal 50,000 mt to 75,000 mt.

Sources commented when the tender was announced that TCP apparently wanted to get its purchases secured before the Indians call another tender and possible heat up the market.

A 25-year old employee of PCL Construction fell to his death from a scaffold at Agrium Inc.’s Vanscoy, Sask., potash mine early Saturday, July 13. Agrium said its emergency response team was immediately activated along with local emergency services and that a full investigation is underway. “Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased co-worker,” said an Agrium spokesman who said the company is working with regulatory authorities at this time.

Agrium is in the process of expanding its Vanscoy mine.

LSB Industries Inc. reports that plant outages during the second quarter as well as a delayed spring fertilizer season impacted second quarter results. Actual results for the quarter ending June 30, 2013, will be released around Aug. 6.

While the Pryor, Okla., ammonia plant resumed production in late April, LSB said in May and June, it was again taken offline to replace a bearing, and later to replace a coupling that failed. While it was not in operation, additional planned maintenance that had been scheduled for later in the year was performed. These events resulted in 30 days of cumulative unplanned downtime. Pryor is now in production.

Due to the lost production at the Pryor, as well as lost production at Cherokee during April, along with the related high maintenance and repair costs, LSB estimates the cumulative negative effect to 2013 second quarter operating income to be approximately $22-$24 million.

LSB said operating income was impacted by the late start of the agricultural fertilizer season caused by inordinately cool, wet weather conditions, lower sales prices for nitrogen fertilizer and higher natural gas costs as compared to second quarter 2012.

LSB expects second quarter 2013 operating income to be in the range of $9-$12 million, as compared to $42.3 million in the second quarter of 2012, with diluted earnings per share to be in a range from $0.20-$0.30, as compared to $1.11 in the second quarter of 2012.

As a result of the extensive maintenance performed on our various chemical facilities during the past three quarters, LSB expects that planned maintenance events that are usually scheduled during the third quarter of each year will not be as extensive during the remainder of 2013. Additionally it expects to recognize significant business interruption and property insurance recoveries in the second half of the year.

“Despite the issues that depressed our second quarter profitability, we have made significant advances with the repair and upgrade of our facilities and are confident that, due to the efforts made by our dedicated operating management team, the mechanical reliability of our Chemical business will be much improved in future quarters and years,” Jack Golsen, LSB board chairman. “As discussed in our first quarter conference call, we expect our Chemical business results for the second half of 2013 to improve substantially.”

“We are encouraged by the improved results of our Climate Control business and its prospects as a recovery in new construction continues,” he added.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. estimates that total production adjustments for 2013 will be 3.5 million mt. Of this, regular maintenance shutdowns would include 1 million mt, additional shutdowns 900,000 mt, and reduced operating rates 1.6 million. PotashCorp’s annual operational capability estimate of 12.4 million mt factors in regular maintenance shutdowns.

PotashCorp revealed that operating levels at Lanigan were reduced during the second quarter and its expects to operate both Lanigan and Rocanville at reduced rates for the balance of the year.

As previously reported in Green Markets, PotashCorp’s vacation and maintenance shutdowns for this summer are listed below. PotashCorp said that in addition to the shutdown weeks taken during the first quarter, the Cory facility will extend its regular maintenance shutdown by six weeks from Aug. 11 to Sept. 21.

PotashCorp vacation and maintenance shutdowns: Allan – July 7 to Aug. 3, with production to resume Aug. 4; Lanigan – Aug. 4-31, with production to resume Sept. 1; Rocanville – July 14 to Aug. 10, with production resuming Aug. 11; Cory – July 14 to Sept. 21, with production to resume Sept. 22; Patience Lake – June 30 to Aug. 3, with production to resume Aug. 4; New Brunswick – July 28 to Aug. 17, with production to resume Aug. 18. PotashCorp said there will be no layoffs during these shutdowns.

CHS Inc. reported a drop in earnings for the third-quarter ending May 31, 2013 to $250.8 million from the year-ago $405.1 million. CHS said the drop was largely attributable to delayed spring planting in many areas which affected crop inputs movement, lower grain exports resulting from a reduced 2012 U.S. harvest and schedule maintenance at its Montana refinery. Revenues for the quarter were $11.9 billion, down from the year-ago $11 billion.

Nine-month earnings were $869.6 million on revenues of $33.5 billion, compared to the year-ago $899.7 million and $29.6 billion.

For more details, see the July 19 Green Markets Web-Edition.

PCS Sales has issued a new granular potash posting of $420/st FOB, which is about $20/st below recent market prices across the Cornbelts. Recent Cornbelt market pricing has been in the $440-$445/st FOB range.

Specific locations listed for the $420/st FOB price are Fort Dodge and Waterloo, Iowa, Casey, Colfax, Danville, Marseilles, Seneca and Springfield, Ill., Burns Harbor, Delphi, Indianapolis, Jeffersonville and Walton, Ind., St. Louis, Mo., and Crestline and Maumee, Ohio.

The PCS postings are for July 8 forward.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), sent a letter to every state governor on July 9 asking them to take action to prevent explosions of ammonium nitrate, the chemical that was responsible for the April 17 explosion at the West Fertilizer facility in West, Texas.

While offering no specific recommendations, Boxer urged the governors to review their state’s applicable requirements for ammonium nitrate, “and in the interests of saving lives, adopt policies that you believe will prevent loss of life while allowing the use of ammonium nitrate with appropriate protections or the use of alternatives.”

Boxer’s letter follows a June 27 oversight hearing held by the EPW (GM July 1, p. 1) during which testimony was heard from the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA), and other witnesses.

“I trust you will agree with me that we must ensure that all available measures are used to prevent explosions of this dangerous chemical,” Boxer’s letter states. “Ensuring proper controls on ammonium nitrate can be lifesaving.”

“Ammonium nitrate can explode when it is heated or contaminated and threatens the lives of first responders and people in communities located near facilities that handle this material,” the letter continues. “Chemical explosions can have tragic consequences, but best practices can prevent disasters.”