The J.R. Simplot Company, Boise, has named Garrett Lofto as president and CEO. Lofto has been the president of the company’s AgriBusiness group since 2009 and has spent 26 years working for Simplot. He succeeds Bill Whitacre who announced his retirement in April after nine years at the helm.
Junior potash mining firm Karnalyte Resources Inc., Saskatoon, has announced plans to diversify into nitrogen and is looking to build a small nitrogen plant in Saskatchewan.
“Karnalyte is now actively exploring the possibility of developing a small-scale ammonia/urea plant to be located in Central Saskatchewan,” said Karnalyte President Frank Wheatly. “Karnalyte has undertaken preliminary work on this opportunity, and intends to capitalize on the competitive advantages Saskatchewan provides for nitrogen fertilizer production. We also believe that the local Saskatchewan market provides an opportunity for a new, small scale, independent nitrogen fertilizer producer that will provide direct benefits to the local Saskatchewan farming community.”
The proposed nitrogen fertilizer plant will have a nameplate production capacity of approximately 700 mt/d of ammonia and approximately 1,200 mt/d urea.
The company said the project, called Proteos Nitrogen Project, has the support of its largest shareholder, Indian nitrogen producer Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd., which has some five decades of nitrogen production experience.
Karnalyte is currently conducting additional research on the project, including market studies, as well as engineering and site procurement.
The company says its Wynyard Potash Project remains a construction ready project, and is poised to be developed once potash prices recover to a point where it becomes economically viable and can be financed, constructed and profitably operated.
The Mosaic Co. said May 14 that it intends to move its corporate headquarters, including senior executives and related functions, to Hillsborough County, Fla. Details of the move, including timing, the exact location of the corporate office and the number of employees to be relocated, remain under consideration.
“Mosaic is among the largest employers and most significant corporate economic drivers in Central Florida,” said President and CEO Joc O’Rourke. “We believe locating our corporate office there will give us opportunities to amplify Mosaic’s presence and engage more closely with communities where we operate. With the cost savings we expect to achieve and the closer proximity to our Mosaic Fertilizantes business in Brazil, this move will drive improved efficiency and good value.”
The company said the move will allow it to reconsider its U.S. office footprint, including its spaces in Plymouth, Minn., as well as its FishHawk and Highland Oaks locations in Florida. As a result of the company’s transformation over the past several years, excess capacity exists at those locations.
“We will execute this move with as little disruption as possible and with sensitivity to our employees’ personal situations,” said O’Rourke. “Mosaic is fortunate to have a deeply talented workforce, and we fully intend to maintain that competitive advantage.”
OCP SA and The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) have agreed to explore the phased creation of a new global fertilizers joint venture, in a move that will accelerate the execution of both companies’ international strategies, OCP announced earlier today.
The proposed partnership will comprise two fertilizer production hubs, one in the UAE and one in Morocco (utilizing both existing and new assets), giving the proposed jv global market reach.
“The proposed jv will build on both companies’ competitive advantages, namely ADNOC’s world-scale sulfur production, ammonia and gas expertise, and shipping and logistics network, and OCP’s access to large phosphate resources, its century-long fertilizers know-how and its marketing network, to develop a new global fertilizers producer,” said the Moroccan phosphate group.
OCP said the proposed project extends the partnership already established through the existing long-term sulfur offtake agreement that was announced by the two firms in December 2017. The two companies will work on developing capabilities that will support this venture, as they expand their partnership, leveraging their respective strengths and building their human capital.
The agreement aligns with ADNOC’s announced plans to increase production by at least 50 percent from its current levels of 7 million mt/y, as it looks to increase gas production by tapping into vast gas caps and scaling up sour gas production. OCP has engaged in a large-scale development program that will enable it to capture its share of growing demand for fertilizers. The first phase of this program was completed this year and has brought the group’s existing fertilizer capacity to 12 million mt/y, and rock export capacity to over 18 million mt/y.
The agreement comes as ADNOC, at its Downstream Investment Forum, which took place May 13-14 in Abu Dhabi.
