Nitrogen & Methanol articles from March 2003

Nitrogen & Methanol archives from March 2003

Deja vu all over again? (Editorial).
March 1, 2003... With US natural gas prices spiralling past $10.00/mmBtu, American nitrogen and methanol producers must be feeling, in the immortal words of baseball legend Yogi Berra, that it is deja vu all over again." A combination of war fears, the strikes...

Price trends.
March 1, 2003... AMMONIA US shutdowns make market skyrocket Ammonia prices bottomed out around the start of January and began climbing again. Increasing gas prices in the US began to take capacity off-line from mid-January and the strike in Venezuela...

TFI and EFMA complete joint testing programme. (Nitrogen Industry News: Europe/United States).(European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association and The Fertilizer Institute )
March 1, 2003... The European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association (EFMA) and The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) have announced the completion of their joint four-year toxicity testing research programme on high production volume fertilizer products. The results of...

Kemira Agro rebrands. (Nitrogen Industry News: Finland).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... After failing to sell its Agro subsidiary, Kemira has decided to place the unit back into the group's portfolio as an independent business unit. Kemira Agro has now undergone an identity change to become Kemira GrowHow. The rebranding is now...

Tariff on AN imports. (Nitrogen Industry News: Hungary).(Hungary puts tariffs on ammonium nitrate from Russia, elsewhere)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Hungary has imposed a $51.40/t tariff on imports of ammonium nitrate and ammonium nitrate solutions from Russia, the Ukraine and Romania. The measure is to last from February 1st to August 1st, and will reportedly be levied not only on imports,...

Deal on Russian UAN imports. (Nitrogen Industry News: United States).(Urea-Ammonium Nitrate )
March 1, 2003... The US Department of Commerce has reached agreement with Russian UAN producers to suspend an investigation into alleged 'dumping' of product on the US market in exchange for agreed floor and reference prices for imported UAN. The deal includes...

More anti-dumping duties under negotiation. (Nitrogen Industry News: India).(between Russia and India)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Russian ammonium nitrate manufacturers failed to agree a pricing formula with Indian producers at a meeting in January initiated by the Indian Anti-Dumping Directorate. Indian producers Deepak Fertilziers and Chemicals, Gujarat Narmada Valley...

MissChem to go it alone on sale. (Nitrogen Industry News: Trinidad & Tobago).(Mississippi Chemicals to no longer cooperate with Farmland Industries to jointly sell their 610,000 t/a ammonia facility on Trinidad)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Mississippi Chemicals has announced that it will no longer cooperate with Farmland Industries to jointly sell the two companies' Farmland MissChem 610,000 t/a ammonia facility on Trinidad. Mississippi Chemicals, which owns 50% of the plant,...

Ammonia pipeline connection gets go-ahead. (Nitrogen Industry News: Russia).(Rossosh to connect plant to Togliatti Yuzhnyy pipeline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Russian ammonia producer Rossosh looks set to go ahead with the completion of a pipeline connection from its plant to the main Togliatti Yuzhnyy pipeline. If the connection is completed it will enable Rossosh to export its ammonia more...

China issues urea quotas. (Nitrogen Industry News: China).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The State Economic and Trade Commission of China has allocated 1.8m tonnes of urea import quotas for 2003, 1.62m tonnes of which are for state-owned companies and the rest for private importers. State-owned Sinochem has an allocation of...

Burrup signs offtake agreement with Hydro. (Nitrogen Industry News: Australia).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Burrup Fertilizers has signed a long-term offtake agreement with Hydro Agri over product from the projected 750,000 t/a ammonia plant being constructed on the Burrup Peninsula, near Karratha, Western Australia. Hydro will take 100% of the...

Incitec to expand AN capacity. (Nitrogen Industry News: Australia).(nitric acid)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Incitec has gained approval from the New South Wales government to build a US$50m nitric acid plant at the company's Kooragang Island complex. The new nitric acid plant will raise ammonium nitrate production at the site by 40%. Australia faces...

Abu Qir IV to be urea not AN. (Nitrogen Industry News: Egypt).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Abu Qir Fertilizers has abandoned plans to build 800,000 t/a of new ammonium nitrate capacity at its complex near Alexandria. The proposed Abu Qir plant will now be a 660,000 t/a ammonia-urea complex, the company has said. The move may have...

Strikes end but unrest continues. (Gas and Methanol News: Venezuela).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The general strike called by opponents of beleaguered Venezuelan president Huge Chavez has officially ended, but with the government planning to restructure state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and many workers sacked, claims and...

Sud-Chemie and Choren Industries to cooperate on synfuels. (Gas and Methanol News: Germany).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Sud-Chemie and Choren Industries have agreed to cooperate on the production of fuel from renewable resources. The agreement envisages Sud-Chemie developing and supplying catalysts to convert synthesis gas into fuel or hydrogen, as well as...

Rentech in another GTL licensing move. (Gas and Methanol News: United States).(with Jacobs and Consolidated Contractors International )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... After its deal with Dubai-based Global Process Systems Inc to license the company's proprietary gas to liquids (GTL) technology for use on floating production vessels (see Nitrogen & Methanol 261, Jan/Feb 2003), Denver-based Rentech has signed...

Syntroleum GTL pilot plant start-up. (Gas and Methanol News: United States).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... GTL technology developer Syntroleum has successfully started a 3 bbl/day pilot plant at its Tulsa, Oklahoma, headquarters which it calls its Advanced Reactor Unit (ARU), using the company's multistage slurry technology. The $5m unit will be a...

Burrup methanol plant gets environmental approval. (Gas and Methanol News: Australia).(GTL Resources signs Native Title Agreements, contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... GTL Resources is moving forward with its methanol development on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. The company has signed Native Title Agreements which have been ratified by the Western Australian government and the Australian...

Methanol/DME project proposal. (Gas and Methanol News: China).(Sichuan Lutianhua Group is to invest $122m in the construction of a 400,000 t/a coal gas-based methanol plant )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Sichuan Lutianhua Group is to invest $122m in the construction of a 400,000 t/a coal gas-based methanol plant and a downstream 100,000 t/a dimethyl ether (DME) plant in Luzhou, Sichuan province. Construction of the plants has been given...

Acetic acid contract awarded. (Gas and Methanol News: China).(Yangtze River Acetyls Company Ltd awards contract to Aker Kvaemer)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Yangtze River Acetyls Company Ltd (YARACO) has awarded the front end engineering and design contract to build an expansion to its acetic acid facility at Chuan Wei, Chongqing to Aker Kvaermer. Kvaerner will license BP Cativa technology to...

Work begins on International Methanol plant. (Gas and Methanol News: Saudi Arabia).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Construction work began in March on the International Methanol Company's (IMC's) 970,000 t/a methanol facility. IMC is a 65-35 joint venture between the Saudi International Petroleum Company (SIPC) and the Japan Arabia Methanol Company (JAMC),...

Gas development plans seem dead. (Gas and Methanol News: Saudi Arabia).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The $20bn of joint venture gas development projects planned under Saudi Arabia's projected opening up of its gas and downstream sector seem to be dead in the water. Negotiations have dragged on but little conclusive has happened since last...

Technip-Coflexip awarded EPC contract. (Gas and Methanol News: Qatar).(Oryx GTL Ltd lets engineering, procurement and construction )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The joint venture gas to liquids (GTL) project between Qatar Petroleum and Sasol, now calling itself Oryx GTL Ltd, has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the $900m project to France's Technip-Coflexip....

Tender for Kharg Island methanol plant. (Gas and Methanol News: Iran).(Iranian National Petrochemical Company )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Iranian National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has said that it will be issuing a tender for the engineering and procurement contract for its new Kharg Island facility "soon". The projected 660,000 t/a methanol plant will now also include...

Lekki complex to be first MTO plant onstream? (Gas and Methanol News: Nigeria).(methanol to olefins)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Progress in recent months for the $2.5bn Lekki petrochemical complex in Nigeria means that it looks possible to become the first operational methanol to olefins project in the world. The project is being geared to an onstream date in 2006,...

Grade Pariosse. (People).
March 1, 2003... Thierry Le Henaff has been appointed chairman of Grade Pariosse, replacing Michel Perratzi who retired at the end of 2002. M Le Henaff, 39, was previously vice president of BostikFinley Adheisves Division and will b responsible for the...

Agrifert Trading AG. (People).
March 1, 2003... Dmitri Roumiantsev, previously head of Agrifert's Moscow office, is now commercial director of Agrifert Trading AG in Lausanne, Switzerland. The new head of the Moscow office is his former deputy, M Kichatov.

Gotz Weyrich has retired from Uhde. (People).
March 1, 2003... Gotz Weyrich has retired from Uhde. A member of the executive board, he had served 38 years with the company and won the important $500m Sohar contract in Oman.

Jordan Arab Phosphate Company. (People).
March 1, 2003... The Jordan Arab Phosphate Company has appointed Issa Ayyoub as chairman of the board. Dr Wanas Hindawi has been appointed general manager of the company. Dr Hindawi was previously deputy general manager and marketing manager.

The dead zone. (Nitrates and Hypoxia).('seasonal hypoxia' in the Gulf of Mexico )
March 1, 2003... Every summer a large area of the Gulf of Mexico suffers from what is known as 'seasonal hypoxia' as oxygen levels in the water drop. Fertilizers, especially nitrate fertilizers, have been blamed for the condition. Nitrogen & Methanol reports on...

Nitrogen 2003 conference report. (Nitrogen 2003 Conference).
March 1, 2003... The Nitrogen 2003 International Conference and Exhibition, organised by British Sulphur Publishing, was held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Warsaw, Poland, from Sunday 22nd February to Wednesday 26th February 2003. In spite of the storm...

Snow, synthesis gas and ammonia. (Seminar Reports).(Industry Overview)
March 1, 2003... Sud-Chemie's synthesis gas catalysts were examined at the company's recent synthesis gas catalyst conference at a Bavarian resort. Snow featured large in the extramural activities. Just a month later, Synetix ran a one-day seminar for its...

Raring to go. (Site Visit).(BP Koln's new Uhde-built azeotropic nitric acid plant )(Company Profile)
March 1, 2003... Though up and running, BP Koln's new Uhde-built azeotropic nitric acid plant has to wait until changes in the user processes on Bayer AG's site next door are complete before it can run continuously at full capacity. Alexander More visited the...

MEGAMMONIA[R] -- a mammoth-scale process for a new century: details of the awaited fourth jumbo ammonia production process concept were presented at Nitrogen 2003 in Warsaw. (Ammonia Production).
March 1, 2003... The main contractors in the ammonia plant field have all announced process concepts for massively increasing the individual production capacity of single-train ammonia plants without recourse to any unproven technology or outsize equipment. To...