Tessenderlo
Group, Brussels, on Jan. 16 announced that it has signed an agreement to
acquire the marketing and sales activities for ammonium thiosulfate (ATS)
fertilizers produced by Esseco Srl (part of Esseco Group) in Trecate, Italy.
These ATS fertilizers will be marketed by Tessenderlo’s business unit Tessenderlo Kerley International (TKI). Tessenderlo will also acquire the Esseco trademarks Secofit® TS and Agrifix®, which are used to market this product range for agricultural applications. The agreement is scheduled to become operational in March 2023.
“This
agreement confirms Tessenderlo Kerley International’s commitment to the
ammonium thiosulfate fertilizer market. Thanks to the production capacity of
Esseco Srl, we will have additional volumes of ammonium thiosulfate fertilizers
available. In addition to cooperating with a company which shares the same
mindset towards continuous improvement in terms of both product and process,
this agreement will also improve the service we offer to our customers,” said Geert
Gyselinck, TKI Executive Vice President.
“We
are very proud of this deal with Tessenderlo Group, which will guarantee and
strengthen the leading position of the two companies in their respective roles,
and support the growth of ATS use in the agricultural markets,” said Andrea
Mangiarotti, member of the Esseco Srl Board of Directors and Marketing Director
of Esseco Industrial, part of Esseco Group. “Esseco Industrial will continue
its operations in the ATS markets in both the United Kingdom and Brazil through
local independent production.”
Tessenderlo
said the transaction will have no material impact on the results.
The Mellon Foundation
has awarded a $1 million grant to Wake Forest University to create a model
program for engaging scholars and the local community in advancing
environmental justice.
Professor Corey D.B.
Walker, who will lead the project, said the January 2022 Weaver fertilizer
plant fire in Winston-Salem (GM Feb. 4, 2022) exposed the historic and
ongoing legacies of race, racism, and environmental injustice in the local
community and both shaped and gave urgency to the work the grant will fund.
The Jan. 31, 2022, fire at the Winston Weaver fertilizer terminal
on the north side of Winston-Salem, N.C., completely destroyed the facility and
prompted a three-day evacuation order for residents and businesses within a
one-mile radius of the plant due to concerns about a possible explosion
triggered by ammonium nitrate stored at the site.
“In many ways, Weaver served as a wake-up call to initiate, support, and sustain a model intellectual community built on the principles of collaboration, creativity, and commitment to our deepest values,” said Walker, who is Wake Forest Professor of Humanities, Director of the African American Studies Program, and Interim Dean of the School of Divinity.
Starting with a collaboration
between Wake Forest’s African American Studies program and Environmental
Studies program, the scope of the work will extend to departments across campus
and into the community.
The three-year,
multi-pronged effort–called “Environmental and Epistemic Justice: A
Transformative Humanistic Model for Science and Technology Studies” – will help
the University imagine, design, and develop a humanistic Science and Technology
Studies curriculum that places environmental justice at the center. It will
build on the STEM-focused programs in the local community supported by earlier
Mellon grants.
The new grant will fund a variety of seminars, institutes, and public educational forums for citizens, environmental justice advocates, journalists, and public officials. It will also support paid research opportunities for undergraduate students and two new full-time positions: a project coordinator and a postdoctoral fellow.
The NOLA UAN barge market was put in the $350-$360/st
($10.94-$11.25/unit) FOB range, a big drop from the week-ago $420-$440/st
($13.13-$13.75/unit) FOB. The numbers were reported to be in line with river
terminals posted at $400/st FOB ($12.50/unit).
Eastern
Cornbelt:
UAN-32
terminal prices continued to fall in the Eastern Cornbelt. New offers for
January-February tons were reported at $400-$420/st ($12.50-$13.13/unit) FOB,
with the low confirmed at Mount Vernon, Ind., reflecting an $80/st drop from the
previous week.
The Cincinnati, Ohio, market was quoted at the $405/st ($12.66/unit) FOB level for UAN-32 and $350-$355/st ($12.50-$12.68/unit) FOB for UAN-28.
Western
Cornbelt:
New UAN-32 offers for January-February were confirmed at $400/st ($12.50/unit) FOB Port Neal and St. Louis, and $405/st ($12.66/unit) FOB Muscatine, Iowa, down some $80/st or more from the previous week.
In the Northern Plains, spring UAN-32 pricing was pegged at $461/st ($14.41/unit) FOB Winona, Minn., down from the $546/st ($17.06/unit) level earlier in January.
California:
Postings for UAN-32 were confirmed at $570/st ($17.81/unit) FOB Stockton, $575/st ($17.97/unit) FOB Port Hueneme, and $580/st ($18.13/unit) FOB West Sacramento. Sources said the Stockton market was closer to $500/st ($15.63/unit) FOB as the week progressed, however, with rail-DEL prices confirmed at that level as well.
By Jan. 19, some were claiming reports of sub-$500/st
offers at port terminals in the state. “It’s all over the place,” commented one
contact.
Pacific
Northwest:
The UAN-32 market in the Pacific Northwest
dropped to $515/st ($16.09/unit) FOB most terminals, down from $535/st
($16.72/unit) FOB in late December. Rail-DEL
UAN-32 pricing in the region was quoted at $480-$515/st ($15.00-$16.09/unit),
below last month’s $535-$545/st ($16.72-$17.03/unit) DEL range.
Western
Canada:
The UAN-28 market in Western Canada was pegged at
C$575-$595/mt (C$20.54-$21.25/unit) DEL for January-April tons, down from the
last reported range of C$620-$645/mt (C$22.14-$23.04/unit) DEL.
NOLA potash barge prices fell again. By late Thursday, sources were calling the market $410-$430/st FOB, down from the week-ago $440-$445/st FOB. Sources said that the updated NOLA numbers were in line with the lower inland numbers that resulted from recently-announced producer fill programs.
Eastern Cornbelt:
Potash pricing in the Eastern Cornbelt was pegged at $465-$480/st FOB regional warehouses for fill offers during the week.
Western
Cornbelt:
The
potash market slipped to $455-$475/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt. Some fill
offers in the Southern Plains were reported as low as $435/st FOB during the
week.
California:
Potash
fill pricing ranged from $585-$615/st FOB in California, depending on grade and
location, with the low confirmed for 60% MOP and the high for 62%.
Pacific
Northwest:
Fill
offers for potash were reported at $530-$560/st FOB in the Pacific Northwest,
with delivered pricing quoted at $532/st in Montana, $542/st in Idaho, and
$552/st in Washington and Oregon. Intrepid’s potash prices FOB Moab and
Wendover, Utah, dropped at mid-month to $505/st
for 60% white standard and $515/st for 60% white granular.
Western
Canada:
Fill prices for potash reportedly dropped to C$715/mt
FOB Saskatchewan mines for February-March, although several sources said those
initial offers expired during the week and were followed by new pricing in the
C$735-$775/mt FOB range, depending on grade and time of shipment.
Brazil:
Sellers were hoping potash prices would move higher as demand picked
up. However, those hopes were dashed by players offering sanctioned material
from Belarus, leaving the market at $500-$520/mt CFR.
The Rondonopolis price was down to $600-$660/mt FOB ex-warehouse on limited activity. Farmers were noted wrapping up their 2022/23 soybean needs, and have not yet committed to their full 2023/24 corn needs. At the same time, an influx of material from Belarus provided lower-priced potash.
South Korea:
Imports of potash for 2022 were reported at 652,000 mt by Trade Data
Monitor, a15% decline from 771,000 mt noted for 2021. The market’s
main supplier was Canada with 494,000 mt, followed by Israel with 95,000 mt.
December imports were 31,000 mt – with 30,000 mt coming from Canada –
compared to the year-ago 53,000 mt. Fourth-quarter imports were clocked at
86,000 mt, falling from 198,000 mt in the same period of 2021, while Canada
again dominated the market with 82,000 mt. South Korean buyers brought in 283,000
mt through the last six months of 2022, off from 380,000 mt in second-half
2021.
The Tampa molten
sulfur market’s largest buyer reported settling first-quarter supply contracts
at $130/lt CFR, a $40/lt increase from $90/lt CFR in the fourth quarter. The
market’s second largest buyer reported that it too was in the process of
settling with suppliers at $130/lt CFR during the week.
The $40/lt increase, a 44% jump on the prior contract, came as no surprise to the market. International prices have continued to recover from price instability triggered by the war in Ukraine, in which the US Gulf export market was seen dropping to as low as $10/mt FOB in third-quarter 2022. The market’s revival throughout the fourth quarter led players to predict a larger $50-$70/lt increase as late as mid-December, although subsequent softening witnessed in a number of key international markets pushed Tampa speculation lower before the end of the year. By last week, expectations had settled on a likely $30-$45/lt increase on the prior contract.
Players agreed that the settlement price was indicative of the broader sulfur landscape. “The 1Q price increase is simply an exercise in keeping North American markets on par with international markets,” a source said.
Looking ahead, a mix
of lingering cold weather-related production outages and planned refinery
turnarounds could interact with perceived lower consumption rates from some US
phosphate producers in the short-term, sources said, potentially making for an
unpredictable market going forward.
“(The) molten market
is actually tightening up quite a bit, as there is a substantial amount of
maintenance work ongoing with (the) supply-side and refineries,” said one
source. “(It) appears the market will be quite volatile in terms of matching up
supply/demand timing as we move forward.”
Following Tampa
higher, first-quarter NOLA molten sulfur indications moved up to $119/lt CFR
from $79/lt CFR. Tons delivered to Houston were indicated at $115/lt CFR for
1Q, firming from $75/lt CFR in the prior period.
Operable
refining capacity pressed higher for the week ending Jan. 13, according to data
released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), notching a second
consecutive period of increased operations since Winter Storm Elliott forced
production outages at a large number of US refineries in late December.
Refineries
operated at 85.3% of nationwide capacity through the period, a 1.2 percentage
point increase from 84.1% reported one week earlier. Despite the improvement,
utilization for the period trailed both the year-ago 88.1% and five-year
average of 88.4%.
Crude
inputs were also higher, the EIA data showed, climbing to an average 14.853
million barrels/d, up 202,000 barrels/d from the week-ago 14.651 million
barrels/d.
US Gulf:
Genscape reported numerous
unit startups at the TotalEnergies Port Arthur, Texas, refinery during the
week, including the plant’s 165,000 barrel/d ACU-1 crude distillation unit
(CDU); a 55,000 barrel/d vacuum distillation unit (VDU); an 80,000 barrel/d
fluidic catalytic cracking unit; and a number of hydrotreaters, catalytic
cracking units, and coking units. The units had been reported offline since
Dec. 23 due to Winter Storm Elliott. An 80,000 barrel/d CDU and 52,000 barrel/d
VDU shut since Dec. 13 remained offline on Jan. 18.
With lower pricing
reported into Brazil during the week, the US Gulf sulfur market softened to
$130-$135/mt FOB from $148-$153/mt FOB reported previously.
Brazil:
New import pricing
out of Brazil was quoted at $155/mt CFR, down from $172-$176/mt CFR in the
prior report.
Sources described minimal
contract activity for the first quarter, with as few as two vessels reportedly
purchased under contract for January-March. Pricing for the period was believed
to land in a general $172-$186/mt CFR range, above $119-$138/mt CFR noted for
the fourth quarter.
Vancouver:
Recent pricing on sulfur
exported from Vancouver was reported falling to $135-$140/mt FOB, a decline
from $150-$155/mt FOB at last check.
Alberta:
Based both on the rising contract price of molten sulfur at Tampa and
softer values noted out of Vancouver, netbacks to producers in Alberta moved to
an indicated $15-$70/mt FOB range, a change from (-)$25-$85/mt FOB in the prior report.
Tons contracted into the US market set the low, while prilled material selling
offshore through the Vancouver export market established the range’s top end.
West Coast:
West Coast price
indications followed Vancouver lower to $135-$140/mt FOB, off from $150-$155/mt FOB.
Molten
sulfur contracts for tons loading from West Coast locations were reported in a
$125-$135/lt FOB range for the
first quarter, rising from $75-$79/lt
FOB in the fourth quarter.
China:
Sources reported no new business out of China, citing proximity to the
country’s upcoming Jan. 22 Lunar New Year holiday. Last-done continued to be
called $155-$165/mt CFR.
ADNOC:
Abu Dhabi National
Oil Co. postings for January were heard at $160/mt FOB Ruwais, a $20/mt
decrease from $180/mt FOB in the
prior period.
Qatar:
January offers for
sulfur loading from Qatar were noted at $155/mt FOB Ras Laffan. Qatar tonnage was reported at $185/mt FOB in December, a $30/mt FOB difference.
Kuwait:
Kuwait solid sulfur cargoes were offered at $154/mt FOB for January
lifting, sources said, off $29/mt from $183/mt FOB reported for December.
Junior company
Gensource Potash Corp., Saskatoon, on Jan. 19 reported that Helm AG has
confirmed that it will withdraw its proposed 33% ownership offer in KClean
Corp., the entity created to own and operate the Tugaske Potash Project in
Saskatchewan. Helm had offered C$50 million for its stake in 2021 (GM
Sept. 3, 2021). Gensource said that currently KClean and the Tugaske Project
are, and continue to be, 100% owned by Gensource.
Gensource
explained that the Helm investment in KClean resulted in an unappealing
risk-return ratio for new investors, since the investment for all parties only
occurs at financial close of the full project financing. Gensource thanked Helm
for its action, which now provides the opportunity for Gensource and potential
investors to work with an open capital structure to complete the financing of
the project.
“Although 2022 was
one of the most challenging years in recent memory, we see a great opportunity
with an appropriately balanced capital structure for KClean Potash Corp., which
will allow Gensource to proceed with the required financing for the Tugaske
Project,” said Stephen Dyer, Gensource Chairman.
Gensource said
Helm remains supportive of the project and is committed as an offtaker of 100%
of all granular fertilizer (250,000 mt/y) to be produced at the project
pursuant to a binding 2021 offtake agreement (GM May 14, 2021). In
addition, Gensource said KfW IPEX-Bank and Société Générale, the project’s
mandated lead arrangers for the senior debt financing, remain engaged and fully
supportive of the project.
Gensource said it continues
to progress its short-term financing, which it anticipates will advance the
near-complete bridge engineering work for the project. Looking forward into
2023, Gensource expects to complete financing with private equity and strategic
investors to move the project into construction.
“The potash
industry remains strong, and Gensource is determined to bring the Tugaske
Project into production, bringing the efficiencies of its modular approach to
market.” said Mike Ferguson, Gensource CEO. “In addition, the moderation of
fertilizer prices to more sustainable levels is a positive sign for the
agricultural producers, who drive the need for new and sustainable fertilizer
production.”
CF Industries Holdings Inc. on Jan. 17 announced that it
has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with JERA Co. Inc., Japan’s
largest energy generator, regarding the supply of up to 500,000 mt/y of clean
ammonia beginning in 2027. The MOU establishes a framework for the two to assess
how CF would best supply JERA the ammonia under a long-term offtake agreement.
The companies expect to evaluate a range of potential
supply options, including a JERA equity investment alongside CF to develop a
greenfield clean ammonia facility in Louisiana, and a supplementary long-term
offtake agreement from CF’s Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana
“We are pleased to continue to build our relationship
with JERA as we advance our shared commitment to accelerate the world’s transition
to clean energy,” said Tony Will, CF President and CEO. “Our leading ammonia
production network and disciplined investments in clean energy initiatives have
positioned CF Industries at the forefront of clean ammonia supply. We look
forward to helping JERA and Japan meet its clean ammonia requirements, which
represent the first significant volume of what we believe will be substantial
global demand for clean ammonia as a clean energy source.”
“We are pleased to work together with CF Industries on this
significant journey towards decarbonizing the industry, and I am confident that
CF Industries’ reliable operational capabilities that formed its track record
for safe and efficient production as the world’s largest ammonia producer will
profoundly contribute to JERA’s structuring of the clean fuel ammonia value
chain,” said Yukio Kani, JERA Corporate Vice President.
“JERA will continue its own efforts as well as to take
hands with our partners in pursuit of our endeavor to realize and accelerate
not only the decarbonization of the Japanese energy industry, but also to solve
the energy-related issues that the world is facing,” he added.
The MOU results from a supplier comparison and evaluation
process for the procurement of clean ammonia that JERA initiated in February
2022 for the world’s first commercial scale ammonia co-firing operations. The
ammonia, which will be required to be produced with at least 60% lower carbon
emissions than conventionally produced ammonia, will be co-fired with coal at
JERA’s Hekinan Thermal Power Station in order to reduce CO2 emissions from the
facility. JERA said it has successfully concluded an ammonia co-firing pilot
test and will begin a demonstration project during its fiscal year 2023 at its
Hekinan power plant.
Since 2020, CF has advanced projects to decarbonize its
ammonia production network. This includes leveraging carbon capture and
sequestration (CCS) technologies at its Donaldsonville Complex, where CF is
constructing a CO2 dehydration and compression facility to enable the capture
and permanent sequestration of up to 2 million mt/y of CO2, which is expected
to begin in 2025 (GM Aug. 12, 2022). CF said this project could result
in up to 1.7 million tons of blue ammonia per year.
CF has also commenced a front-end engineering and design
study (FEED) to construct a greenfield blue ammonia facility utilizing CCS in
Ascension Parish, La. (GM Aug. 19, 2022). This $2 billion, 1.7 million
t/y project is with Mitsui & Co. Ltd.
In addition, CF is constructing North America’s first
commercial scale green ammonia capacity at its Donaldsonville Complex, enabling
up to 20,000 st/y of green ammonia production beginning in 2024 (GM Oct.
30, 2020). CF has put the cost of this project at $100 million.
Denmark’s Topsoe reported on Jan. 19 that it has been chosen by Mintal
Hydrogen Energy Technology (Mintal), Beijing, as technology provider for a new 390,000
mt/y green ammonia plant in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.
The new plant, which Topsoe
calls the first dynamic green ammonia plant in China, is expected to start
production in 2025. The technology includes Topsoe’s first Power-to-X and
Topsoe’s process licensing, engineering design package, proprietary equipment,
and catalysts.
The green ammonia will
replace approximately 850,000 mt/y of coal and help reduce more than 2 million mt
of CO2 from being emitted to the atmosphere every year, as well as 6.4 mt/y of
sulfur dioxide, 3.2 mt/y of nitrogen oxides, and 3.2 mt/y of smoke and dust,
according to Mintal.
Inner Mongolia is rich
in wind energy resources, and Mintal estimates that the area’s wind resources
have the potential of being developed into a total output capacity of 150
gigawatts. This corresponds to 40% of the available wind energy resources in
China.
It was Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW), and much news was
released Jan. 18-19 regarding the firming up of blue ammonia and methanol
deals, carbon capture initiatives, and the planting of mangrove trees.
Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd. (TA’ZIZ)
announced the signing of a shareholder agreement with Fertiglobe, GS Energy
Corp. (GS Energy), and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (Mitsui) to develop an anticipated
1 million mt/y blue ammonia production facility at the TA’ZIZ Industrial
Chemicals Zone. This deal has been in the works for some time (GM Nov. 19,
2021).
TA’ZIZ noted the exceptional international investor interest
it is receiving and that the news follows ADNOC and Fertiglobe’s recent sales
of low-carbon ammonia demonstration cargos to customers in Japan, Korea, and
Germany.
TA’ZIZ, a joint
venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and Abu Dhabi Holding Co.
(ADQ), likewise solidified a deal with Swiss-based Proman Ag for a 1.8 million
mt/y methanol plant.
In
addition to the ammonia and methanol projects, TA’ZIZ said it continues to
advance with site preparation underway and strategic agreements signed for the
development of a world-scale ethylene dichloride (EDC), chlor-alkali, polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) production facility with Reliance Industries and Shaheen. The
total investment in the first phase of TA’ZIZ will be in excess of $5 billion
(AED18 billion), with most of the chemicals produced to be created in the UAE
for the first time.
ADNOC also
announced that it has begun work on the world’s first fully sequestered CO2
injection well in a carbonate saline aquifer. The project is expected to begin
injections in second-quarter 2023.
Once fully
operational, it will initially fully sequester a minimum of 18,000 mt/y of CO2
captured from Fertiglobe’s UAE operations for injection in Abu Dhabi’s onshore
carbonate aquifers. The project adds to ADNOC’s existing facility in Al Reyadah,
which has the capacity to capture up to 800,000 mt/y of CO2.
In addition, ADNOC
announced that it has signed a contract with Distant Imagery, a UAE-based
environmental technology company, to plant 2.5 million mangrove seedlings
across Abu Dhabi using drone planting technology developed by the Environment
Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD).
International
Fertilizer Association CEO/Director General Alzbeta Klein, CFA, moderated a discussion on the Global Fertilizer
Challenge at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which was held
Jan. 16-20.
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.
