Nitrogen & Methanol articles from January 2004

Nitrogen & Methanol archives from January 2004

Kyoto begins to bite.(Editorial)
January 1, 2004... The Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in December 1997, just over six years ago. Much derided and criticised, it has nevertheless continued to garner signatories. To date, 120 nations have ratified or...

Prices skyrocket on production shortages.(Ammonia)
January 1, 2004... Short availability and strong demand continued to push ammonia prices higher during November and December. Production problems in Europe at Grande Paroisse in Rouen and DSM at Geelen and at Razi and Safco in the Middle East exacerbated matters....

Freight rates close down bull market.(Urea)
January 1, 2004... Many buyers tried to stay out of the market in October and early November in the hope of forcing prices down. However, with no evidence of any weakening in prices, and ammonia feedstock prices continuing their steady climb, by mid-November the...

Feedstock costs keep methanol prices high.(Methanol)
January 1, 2004... The US January contract natural gas reference price was settled early in the month, at $6.01/mmBtu for Texas, and $6.30/mmBtu for Louisiana, up $1.26/mmBtu on average from December. Going forward, with another downward step change in MTBE...

COFANT accuses ConAgra of trying to evade import restrictions.(United States)
January 1, 2004... The Committee for Fair Ammonium Nitrate Trade (COFANT), a consortium of US AN producers, has accused US trader ConAgra of attempting to breach ammonium nitrate import restrictions by bringing in Russian AN as 'nitric phosphates', also known as...

Farmland sells Cotteyville to Pegasus Partners.(United States)
January 1, 2004... Bankrupt fertilizer collective Farmland Industries has sold its Coffeyville complex in Kansas to Pegasus Partners II LP, a Connecticut-based investment firm, for a reported $280m. The Coffeyville site contains a 350,000 t/a ammonia plant and a...

Kharg Island ammonia plant cancelled.(Iran)
January 1, 2004... The Iranian National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has shelved plans to build an ammonia plant at Kharg Island in favour of a methanol development at the site. Kharg Island was the site of NPC's second methanol plan of 660,000 tonnes, and the...

Ca Mau facing financial shortfall.(Vietnam)
January 1, 2004... PetroVietnam's new ammonia-urea complex at Ca Mau near Saigon is part of an overall project facing a $250m shortfall due to the depreciation of the dollar against the euro and additional costs incurred by soil improvement at the site. The...

New AS plant.(Vietnam)
January 1, 2004... Vietnam is building the country's first ammonium sulphate (AS) plant. The 150,000 t/a unit will be built by a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned Vietnam National Chemical Corporation (Vinachem), Lam Thao Fertilizers and Chemicals Co...

First industrial use of nitrous oxide removal system.(Austria)
January 1, 2004... The world's first full-scale facility for the elimination of nitrous oxide ([N.sub.2]O) from the waste gas stream of nitric acid plants has been commissioned at Agrolinz Melamine International in Linz, Austria. The new Uhde-designed process...

Hydro to demerge fertilizer business.(Norway)
January 1, 2004... Norsk Hydro is planning to put the issue of spinning off its fertilizer arm, Hydro Agri, as a separate company to the company's shareholders. Each shareholder would receive one share in Hydro Agri for every share owned in Norsk Hydro. The...

Dampier Nitrogen partners now in rival bids.(Australia)
January 1, 2004... Following the lapse of the Project Development Agreement (PDA) for the Dampier Nitrogen Consortium, the partners involved have gone their separate ways and are now involved in two rival bids to use the site. The demise of the projected 2,300...

New urea plant proposal.(India)
January 1, 2004... According to press reports, the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Collective (Iffco) is considering plans to build a new 850,000 t/a ammonia-urea complex. Suggested sites are either Kalol in Gujarat, where the company currently operates a 545,000 t/a...

Now Ukraine caught in AN anti-dumping case.(India)
January 1, 2004... Indian AN producers Deepak Fertilizers and Chemicals and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers (GNVF) have now initiated an anti-dumping investigation against Ukrainian AN imports. Around 100,000 tonnes of Ukrainian fertilizer grade AN was...

Agricultural bodies to merge.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... Agricultural bodies to merge. The UK Fertilizer Manufacturers' Association is to merge with the Agricultural Supply Trade Association and the Agricultural Distributors Association to form the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC). The new...

UAN duty replaced by minimum import price.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... UAN duty replaced by minimum import price. The European Commission (EC) has replaced the [euro]3.98/t duty on UAN imports from Lithuania with a minimum import price (MIP). Lithuania's Achema, the only exporter of UAN in the country, said that...

New EFMA members from EU candidate countries.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... New EFMA members from EU candidate countries. Three new companies from the new European Union candidate countries have joined the European Fertilizer Manufacturers' Association (EFMA). The new members are: SA Achema of Lithuania, Lovochemie AS...

Fertiberia to close Cartagena and Seville.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... Fertiberia to close Cartagena and Seville. Spanish fertilizer producer Fertiberia has announced the closure of its Cartagena and Seville sites following discussions with labour unions, with over 150 job losses. Cartagena produces 150,000 t/a...

New coal-based ammonia and urea capacity.(China)
January 1, 2004... China is continuing to build new ammonia and urea plants based on coal gasification technology. In Shanxi province, the Shanxi Jinfeng Coal Chemical Company has begun construction of a coal-based ammonia-urea complex. The complex, containing a...

Uhde wins contracts to build two new fertiliser complexes.(Egypt)
January 1, 2004... Uhde has signed turnkey construction contracts with two Egyptian fertiliser companies; the Egyptian Fertilizer Company (EFC) and Alexandria Fertilizer Company. Work on both projects will start immediately. Both contracts are for ammonia/urea...

Energy Bill fails again, this time over MTBE.(United States)
January 1, 2004... Congress has once again failed to pass the Energy Bill, pushing it into the 2004 legislative session. The problem now is over liability protection for MTBE manufacturers, the so-called "safe harbor" provision. MTBE's supporters tried to...

ICI methanol plant to restart?(United Kingdom)
January 1, 2004... UK-based Creative Hydrocarbons, owners of the former ICI methanol plant at Billingham, claim that they are in the final stages of arranging funding to restart the 550,000 t/a facility, after completing engineering assessments of the plant. The...

Methanol to propylene demonstrator starts up.(Norway)
January 1, 2004... Propylene has been produced from natural gas for the first time at a demonstrator plant at Tjelbergodden in Norway using a process developed by Lurgi. The demonstrator plant, owned by Danish company Borealis, uses methanol from the nearby...

East Timor boundary talks deadlocked.(Australia)
January 1, 2004... Australia and East Timor have still not managed to resolve a dispute settling the maritime boundary between the two countries, and negotiations have now been suspended until April. East Timor is seeking to shift the 1972 boundary in its own...

Methanex abandons Burrup plans.(Australia)
January 1, 2004... Methanex has abandoned plans to build a methanol plant on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. The plant was scaled back from 2.0m t/a to 1.3m t/a late last year due to "disproportionately high" capital costs. This led the Australian...

Second GTL project gets green light.(Qatar)
January 1, 2004... Late October saw the signing of a heads of agreement (HoA) between Qatar Petroleum and Shell for the development of a 140,000 bbl/day gas to liquids (GTL) plant at Ras Laffan. The $5bn project, based around Shell's proprietary GTL technology,...

More methanol activity.(China)
January 1, 2004... China's rapid expansion of methanol capacity seems set to continue. The Henan Lantian Group has now begun construction of the 300,000 t/a gas-based methanol plant at Zhumadian which was mentioned as having completed a feasibility study in our...

Vietnamese gas find.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... Vietnamese gas find. Vietnam claims to have found a new large offshore gas field. The Su Tu Trang (White Lion) field is estimated at 170bcm by PetroVietnam, three times the size of the Nam Con Son basin currently being developed. However, the...

New hydrogen plant.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... New hydrogen plant. Linde has been awarded a [euro]5m contract to build a new 5,000[m.sup.3]/hour hydrogen plant for Russia's Lukoil at its Ploesti refinery in Romania. The refinery is currently being revamped and is due to reopen in June.

US LNG expansion.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... US LNG expansion. Chicago Bridge & Iron is to build a new 140,000[m.sup.3] storage tank for Trunkline LNG at the Lake Charles LNG terminal in Louisiana, USA. The tank will double the facility's capacity to 1.2bcf/day. The $80m contract will be...

GTL plant starts up.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... GTL plant starts up. Syntroluem has started up a 70bbl/day GTL demonstrator plant at Catoosa, Oklahoma for its own proprietary GTL process. The $52m plant was built in conjunction with Marathon Oil, and received a $16m grant from the US...

GTL Resources still making progress.(News in Brief)
January 1, 2004... GTL Resources still making progress. While Methanex has abandoned its own methanol ambitions for Burrup, UK-listed GTL Resources has announced financial closure for its own 1.0m t/a methanol project for the site. The new plant will be owned and...

British Sulphur Consultants (BSC).(People)
January 1, 2004... Ken Nyiri has joined British Sulphur Consultants (BSC) with responsibility for its North Maerican representation for fertilizers and chemicals. He replaces Jim Orheim, who has left to join General Electric. Ken was worked for 20 years in the US...

Lasse Kurkilahti.(People)
January 1, 2004... Kemira Oy has appointed Lasse Kurkilahti as its new chief executive officer from May 2004. He will succeed the current CEO Tauno Pihlava. Kurkilahti is currently president and CEO of Elcoteq Oy, a leading Finnish electronics manufacturing...

Stefan Sommer.(People)
January 1, 2004... DSM has appointed Stefan Sommer, former president of Ticona, as corporate vice president of DSM China. The post is newly created and Sommer will relocate to Shanghai.

Eurochem.(People)
January 1, 2004... Eurochem has appointed Valeriy Rogalsky as general director for sales, responsible for all fertilizer products manufactured by the company. Head of nitrogen sales Yuri Strekalov has left the company and will be replaced with Dimitry Kovalev,...

Egil Mylkebust.(People)
January 1, 2004... Egil Mylkebust has announced he will not be seeking re-election as chairman of Norsk Hydro at its spring 2004 AGM. He has been a board member for 12 years, the past three as chairman. His tenure saw sweeping changes implemented in Hydro's...

Diary.(People & Diary)(Calendar)
January 1, 2004... January 20-22 2004 Arab Fertilizer Association 10th International Conference, Cairo, Egypt. Contact: AFA, P.O. Box 8109 Nasr City 11371, Cairo, Egypt. Tel: +20 2 4172347. Fax: +20 2 4173721. Email: info@afa.com.eg...

The changing gas market in Russia: although it has had halting beginnings and some false starts, there are now signs of real reform in the Russian gas sector. Nitrogen & Methanol examines the effect that this is likely to have on the fertilizer industries of both Russia and the former eastern bloc countries.(Fsu Gas)
January 1, 2004... Russia remains the largest reservoir of gas in the world. It had proved reserves in 2001 of between 46,900 and 47,570 bcm, representing around 30% of all gas on the planet. Gas production in 2001, meanwhile, was 581 bcm, giving Russia a...

Methanol: tough times and opportunities ahead; At the World Methanol Conference in Phoenix last November, the gloom caused by looming oversupply was balanced by optimism about methanol's long-term future.(Methanol Conference and Exhibition)
January 1, 2004... Last November the 21st World Methanol Conference and Exhibition was held at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. These have been good times for the methanol industry, with prices high and demand strong, but with several...

Casale Group: operating from Switzerland since the 1920s, the Casale Group was a pioneer in ammonia synthesis, but subsequently branched out into methanol, urea, and now related technologies such as hydrogen and DME.(Company Profile)
January 1, 2004... The Casale Group comprises four companies: Ammonia Casale, Methanol Casale, Casale Chemicals and Urea Casale. It currently employs a team of about 100 people, most of them specialised technologists, based at its recently finished new office...

AIChE ammonia group considers security: security against possible terrorist attack was a keynote theme at the 2003 safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities symposium in Orlando.(Symposium Report)
January 1, 2004... Improving operational safety has always been the principal purpose of the annual symposia on ammonia plants and related facilities run by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. It is due in no small measure to these symposia that the...

PGM recovery: price relationships are all-important; Whether, to what extent, and by which means it is worth while to recover platinum-group metals lost from the catalyst system of a nitric acid plant is largely governed by the relative market values of the metals used.(Nitric Acid Production)
January 1, 2004... Platinum has a long history as a heterogeneous catalyst, not just in the laboratory, where "platinised asbestos" used to be a standard catalyst, but in industry and, in recent decades, in exhaust purification systems for automotive and...

Critical loading: even, dense catalyst loading is one of the essential prerequisites for efficient operation and long tube life in a steam reforming furnace. A new loading technique was announced recently.(Reforming Furnace Operations)
January 1, 2004... Primary steam-hydrocarbon reforming, represented in equation 1 by the steam-methane reforming reaction, is conventionally carried out by passing the steam-feedstock mixture through catalyst-filled tubes suspended in a furnace box. That is...