All Posts from November 4, 2015

Worker dies in Belaruskali mine – Alert

A worker died at Belaruskali’s number 3 mine on Nov. 2 at around 17.00 hours local time.  The employee, a 27-year old ‘timberman’, is understood to have been working 420 meters below the surface.  Media reports cite ‘a sudden emission’ of methane, which subsequently exploded as contributing to the fatality. The accident, which occurred during the maintenance shift, is being investigated but production has not been stopped, a Belarus Potash Co. (BPC) spokesperson said.

CF 3Q income off – Alert

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders of $90.9 million ($0.39 per diluted share) on net sales of $927.4 million, down from the year-ago $130.9 million ($0.52 per share) and $921.4 million, respectively. EBITDA was $256.3 million, down from $338.3 million.

Nine-month net income $673.4 million ($2.84 per share) on sales of $3.2 billion, down from $1.15 billion ($4.43 per share) and $3.53 billion, respectively. EBITDA was $1.41 billion, down from $2.2 billion.

CF reported recent highlights:

OCI deal receives U.S. antitrust clearance.

New Donaldsonville urea plant mechanically complete; commissioning has begun.
 
Completion of a 106-day turnaround and refurbishment at the Woodward, Okla. facility, with 75 days of that within the third quarter.

While urea prices have been on a downward trend, CF estimates that Chinese exports, due to the lower prices, have slowed and will be only 12 million mt in 2015 versus 13.6 million mt in 2014.

CF sees a 1.2 percent increase in North American nitrogen demand and corn acreage of 90.5 million acres, up 2.1 million acres than in 2015.

CF continues to benefit from low natural gas prices, with third-quarter costs averaging $3.07/mmBtu, down from the year-ago $4.39/mmBtu.