All Posts from December 13, 2019

CHS Inc. – Management Brief

Management Briefs

CHS Inc., St. Paul, owners elected five Board members to three-year terms during the cooperative’s 2019 Annual Meeting held Dec. 5-6 in Minneapolis. The following are newly elected to three-year terms.

Hal Clemensen succeeds former director Randy Knecht, who retired from the CHS Board of Directors on Dec. 6. He represents Region 4, covering South Dakota, and has been the president of the Board of Directors of Agtegra Cooperative since its formation in 2018. He raises corn, soybeans, and wheat near Conde, South Dakota. He holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economic and Agricultural Business from South Dakota State University.

Kevin Throener succeeds former director Dennis Carlson, who retired from the board on Dec. 6, and represents Region 3, which covers North Dakota. He has been a Director of CHS Dakota Plains Ag since 2014 and served as Vice President of the Sargent County Farmers Union Board of Directors since 2007. Throener raises corn, soybeans, and alfalfa, and operates a feed lot and cow/calf business near Cogswell, N.D. He studied Agricultural Systems Management at North Dakota State University.

Re-elected to three-year terms are:

Mark Farrell, who operates a corn, soybean, and wheat farm in Dane County, Wisc., representing Region 5.

Alan Holm, who operates a corn, soybean, sweet corn, peas, and hay operation and has a cow-calf herd near Sleepy Eye, Minn., representing Region 1.

Steve Riegel, who raises corn, soybeans, alfalfa, dryland wheat, and milo near Ford, Kan., representing Region 8.

Hocking International Laboratories – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Specialty

Patrick McMullan, Ph.D., has joined specialty chemicals company Hocking International Laboratories as Specialty Product Manager, to lead the company’s Agricultural product development program. With over 20 years of experience in research and product development, Hocking said McMullan brings a unique skill set to help the company continue to expand private-label agricultural product offerings.

Although the company is based in San Marcos, Calif., McMullan joins the team from Iowa, keeping him more closely tied to customers, the industry, and Hocking’s growing Midwestern presence.

“Bringing Patrick on board is a strategic hire for us, elevating our ag portfolio,” said CEO Doug Hocking. “The talent he brings is a tremendous complement to our ongoing R&D program, particularly with specialty adjuvants.”

McMullan has worked with DuPont Pioneer, United Suppliers, and others. He holds a Ph.D. in Weed Science from North Dakota State University and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Manitoba.

Intrepid Potash Inc. – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Specialty

Intrepid Potash Inc., Denver, announced on Dec. 12 the appointment of Brian Stone as Chief Operating Officer, effective Dec. 16, 2019, and Kyle Smith as General Counsel – Land, Minerals, Water, Oilfield Solutions, and Government Affairs, effective Dec. 30, 2019.

Stone will assume responsibility for Intrepid’s oilfield solutions segment and its water business, and has been tasked with continuing the organic expansion of Intrepid’s mid-stream footprint. It is expected that he will gradually take on additional responsibilities for Intrepid’s other mineral operations.

Stone has spent 34 years in all phases of the oil and gas industry, most recently as Chief Operating Officer for Hupecol Operating Co., an international oil and gas company focused on South America and Europe. Prior to joining Hupecol, he was employed by J.M. Huber Corp., initially as Vice President of Energy Marketing, and later as Chief Risk Officer. He began his career with Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.

Intrepid said Smith has almost two decades of experience working in and for energy, mining, and natural resource companies in increasing levels of responsibility and leadership within business, legal, and executive teams. His clients have included BP, ConocoPhillips, Koch Industries, and Continental Resources.

Smith has spent the last 15 years in roles of increasing in-house responsibility, including as Assistant General Counsel for Operations for a large independent upstream producer, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for a start-up pure-play oil and gas operator, and most recently as General Counsel for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Regional Corp., which has 40 subsidiaries in holding lines dedicated to mining, oilfield services, construction, commercial real estate, and government contracting.

Highfield Resources Ltd. – Management Brief

Management Briefs

Junior ASX-listed miner Highfield Resources Ltd., Navarre, Spain, CEO and Managing Director Peter Albert has announced that he is stepping down from the role effective Jan. 31, 2019. He is returning to Australia from the company’s Spanish head office, and will provide ongoing and transitional support to Highfield’s incoming CEO and to the company’s Muga and other potash projects as a consultant.

Highfield Chairman Richard Crookes will act as interim CEO while a global search for a new CEO is underway.

EuroChem to Open New Sales Base in Russia’s Voronezh Region

News, News Briefs, Russia

EuroChem Group, Zug, Switzerland, plans to open a new sales base for the sale of fertilizers in Russia’s Voronezh region in 2020, according to Russia’s AK&M news agency, citing the fertilizer group. The new facility in Vorontsovka, located some 466 km from Moscow, will facilitate availability of a wide range of fertilizers to local farmers, resulting – it is hoped – in significantly higher crop yields and quality.

PhosAgro Sees 1.5 Percent Rise in Exports in 2019

News, News Briefs, Russia

PhosAgro Group, Moscow, said this week it expects to export about 6.6 million mt of fertilizers this year, marking a 1.5 percent increase on last year’s 6.5 million mt of export deliveries, according to an Itar-Tass report, citing the group’s Deputy CEO for Sales and Marketing, Sergey Pronin.

Pronin said PhosAgro’s full-year production is expected to reach 9.5 million mt, in line with earlier group guidance (GM Nov. 1, p. 26). He expects the group’s output to increase to some 10 million mt in 2020.

Perdaman and Murujuga Aboriginal Corp. Ink Deal for Karratha Urea Plant

Ammonia, Australia, News, News Briefs, Urea

Perdaman Industries, Perth, Western Australia, reported on Dec. 2 that it had signed an agreement with Murujuga Aboriginal Corp. (MAC) facilitating planning and environmental approvals for the company’s proposed ammonia and 2 million mt/y capacity granular urea project near Karratha on the Burrup Peninsula, Western Australia.

The deal with MAC includes Perdaman contributing more than A$11 million (approximately US$7.5 million at current exchange rates) to MAC over the estimated 25-year operating life of the urea plant, and is partly for support and preservation of indigenous art and culture, including rock art, on the Burrup Peninsula. There have been some concerns that cumulative emissions from heavy industry on the peninsula is degrading the rock art.

Perdaman said in August it had selected Copenhagen-based Haldor Topsoe’s new SynCOR Ammonia™ technology for its planned 3,500 mt/d plant (GM Aug. 23, p. 25). Stamicarbon has been chosen as the urea licensor, and in November 2018 the company inked a gas supply deal with Australian oil and gas firm Woodside Energy for a 20-year term.

The Karratha urea project was granted major project status by the country’s Government Department of Industry, Science, and Technology in March (GM March 29, p. 28). Receiving major project status will assist Perdaman with obtaining expedited federal government assistance and approvals for the project through the Major Project Facilitation Agency, Perdaman Chairman Vikas Rambal said at the time.

The project is aimed at being mainly an export operation, utilizing the nearby Dampier port, where Perdaman is reported to be discussing expanded berth capacity with the port authority to accommodate Panamax ships.

Still, for the 2 million mt/y capacity project to go ahead, Perdaman must finalize financing arrangements for the A$4.5 billion plant and bring in equity partners. It must also finalize offtake agreements with customers for the urea output, in addition to securing the required government approvals.

The company currently expects planning and environmental approvals to be completed by March of next year and project finance to be in place by the end of the second quarter of 2020, followed immediately by a start to field construction, according to Western Australia’s Business News, citing the company.

Bangladesh Inks Financing Deals for Country’s Largest Urea Plant

Bangladesh, News, News Briefs, Urea

Bangladesh’s government has signed loan deals with three international banks for funding Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corp.’s (BCIC) new 2,800 mt/d urea plant at Ghorashal in Polash Upazila in the Narsingdi District in central Bangladesh, according to the country’s Bdnews24.

Once built, the plant will be the largest of its kind in the country, and will replace two of BCIC’s oldest plants, Urea Fertilizer Factory Ltd. and Polash Urea Fertilizer Ltd.

State-run BCIC first announced the project in October 2018, and at the time was targeting first operations by 2022 (GM Oct. 19, 2018). The new plant’s capacity will be three times higher than the combined output of the two oldest plants, and is needed to meet Bangladesh’s growing demand for urea.

The estimated cost of the project is put at Tk104.6 billion (approximately $1.3 billion at current exchange rates), with over 80 percent of the funds to be provided by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC), Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and Japan’s MUFG Bank, according to the report, citing government officials.

HSBC has jointly arranged $1.3 billion equivalent financing for BCIC to set up the plant, and is the largest financing backed by Export Credit Agency ever to be completed in Bangladesh, according to the report, citing the bank.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and China National Chemical Engineering will build the new plant.

Israeli Ministry Recommends Police Probe at ICL Negev Plant

Israel, News, News Briefs, Phosphate

Israel’s Environment Protection Ministry has recommended that the country’s Green Police investigate the phosphate mining operation of Israel Chemicals Ltd.’s (ICL) Rotem Amfert Negev subsidiary over the alleged flow of phosphate sludge into open mining pits close to the Zin stream bed in the Negev desert in Southern Israel, according to a Times of Israel report.

Israel’s Green Police have the authority to arrest, fine, and charge those suspected of breaking environmental and other relevant laws.

Representatives of ICL Rotem Amfert Negev were summoned by the ministry in March to a hearing about allegations of breaching the state Water Law and water pollution-related regulations the previous month. At the time, the ministry deemed the sludge not to be hazardous.

However, according to this week’s report, citing an Environment Protection Ministry statement, the Ministry’s Southern District Manager has decided to recommend transferring the case to the Green Police for further investigation.

ICL Rotem Amfert Negev operates open pit phosphate mines at two locations in the Negev desert, at Rotem and Zin. In late June 2017, phosphogypsum water from a storage pool at Rotem Amfert’s phosphate fertilizers plant in Mishor Rotem spilled into a nearby dry riverbed via a nature reserve to the Dead Sea, alleging causing widespread ecological damage, following the partial collapse of a dike on June 30, 2017 (GM July 7, 2017).

A class action suit was filed against Rotem Amfert subsidiary in August of that year, stemming from the damage resulting from the incident (GM Aug. 25, 2017).

Disclaimer of Warranty
All information has been obtained by Green Markets from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, Green Markets or others, Green Markets does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.

For additional details visit our Terms of Use.