Nitrogen & Methanol articles from May 2005

Nitrogen & Methanol archives from May 2005

Russia--still an enigma.(EDITORIAL)
May 1, 2005... In 1939, Winston Churchill said: "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Many people could be forgiven for thinking that, even 15 years after the fall of communism, little seems to...

US demand leads market upwards.(AMMONIA)
May 1, 2005... High US gas prices kept US ammonia expensive, leading to the strong demand for overseas product. Consequently strong US demand pulled Yuzhnyy prices higher during March, with a Koch sale to DuPont of 15,000t at $288/t c. & f. indicating a $38/t...

Market rises on strong Asian demand.(UREA)
May 1, 2005... The urea market was firm during early March, as improving demand in Latin America kept Yuzhnyy rates moving upwards, with a slight hiccup around the middle to end of the month due to Easter holidays and some resistance from buyers to rising...

Prices stable in quiet market.(METHANOL)
May 1, 2005... The May contract natural gas reference price was settled early in the month, at $6.71/mmBtu for Texas, and $6.93/mmBtu for Louisiana, down $0.49 on average from April. The methanol industry continues to be quiet, with few surprises on the...

New ammonia/UAN plant planned.(TRINIDAD & TOBAGO)
May 1, 2005... A new name has entered the fast-growing world of Trinidad nitrogen production; La Brea Nitrogen Ltd. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Trinidad over the construction of a five-plant $550m nitrogen...

Yara takes stake in Burrup ammonia project.(AUSTRALIA)
May 1, 2005... Yara has agreed to take a 30% stake in Burrup Holdings, which is in the process of building a new 760,000 t/a ammonia plant on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. Yara is understood to be paying "less than $100m" for the stake, according...

BHP to bid for WMC, but may sell fertilizer plant.(AUSTRALIA)
May 1, 2005... BHP, the world's largest mining company, is bidding for Australia's WMC Resources Ltd. (WMC). The bid equates to A$9.2bn (US$7.3bn) and tops a hostile A$8.2bn offer by the Swiss-based Xstrata Capital Holdings. However, BHP said it would review...

Higher gas prices threaten industry.(ROMANIA)
May 1, 2005... Rapidly rising natural gas prices in Romania are threatening the country's nitrogen fertilizer industry. Margins are also being squeezed by the Romanian lei's appreciation against the euro and the dollar. Some producers have issued profit...

Competition authority fines Azomures.(ROMANIA)
May 1, 2005... Azomures is facing a fine of 52bn lei ($1.88m) for not notifying Romania's anti-trust authority of its acquisition of port operator Chimpex, in Constanpa, southeastern Romania, according to local media reports. Azomures bought two million...

Pequiven and Sinopec in joint venture talks.(VENEZULEA)
May 1, 2005... Pequiven, the petrochemicals subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA, and the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of fertilizer and petrochemicals joint...

Fire shuts down Agrium fertilizer plant.(UNITED STATES)
May 1, 2005... Agrium's Alaska nitrogen facility experienced a fire in the reformer on its number four (ammonia) plant on March 9th, the company has said. No one was injured and early indications are that the damage was not extensive. The Kenai facility has...

Yara to end California AN sales.(UNITED STATES)
May 1, 2005... Yara has decided to cease sales of ammonium nitrate in California due to the increased costs of complying with security regulations, and will instead offer calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) in what the company admits is only a "niche market". It...

Farmland executives accused of gross negligence.(UNITED STATES)
May 1, 2005... JP Morgan, the liquidator of assets for bankrupt fertilizer company Farmland Industries, has filed suit in Missouri against 29 former directors and executives from the company, accusing them of gross negligence and corporate waste. The suit...

Terra gets new drive.(UNITED KINGDOM)
May 1, 2005... Terra Nitrogen has completed an upgrade of its Billingham ammonia plant at Teesside which involved replacing industrial drives in its water demineralisation plant. The drives--very unusually--ran on 40Hz electricity.

Gazprom calls for gas price deregulation.(RUSSIA)
May 1, 2005... Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, has called on the Russian government to deregulate domestic gas prices, although once again he has stopped short of suggesting that Gazprom should be broken up. Miller proposed the...

Syntroleum signs GTL deal with Exxon.(UNITED STATES)
May 1, 2005... The ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co (EMRE) has granted gas to liquids (GTL) technology company Syntroleum a worldwide license under its GTL patents to produce and sell fuels from natural gas or other carbon-based sources (like coal). The...

Movement at last on delayed methanol plant?(VENEZUELA)
May 1, 2005... Venezuelan methanol producer Metanol de Oriente (Metor) is finally ready to begin work on the company's second methanol train. The project has been going for several years, but now Metor says that construction will begin with year for...

GTL contract awarded.(NIGERIA)
May 1, 2005... A $1.7bn engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract has been awarded on the Nigerian Escravos gas to liquids (GTL) project. The contract went to a consortium of Halliburton KBR, Snamprogetti and JGC of Japan. The Escravos project...

Commission threatens over energy markets.(EUROPEAN UNION)
May 1, 2005... The European Commission is threatening to take 10 EU member states, including Germany and Spain, to court for failing to liberalise their countries' energy markets. The warning also applied to Belgium, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and...

Move to break price deadlock.(TURKMENISTAN)
May 1, 2005... Russia is to resume gas imports from Turkmenistan after a compromise deal was brokered recently. The two countries had been in dispute over gas prices after a 2003 agreement where Gazprom was to buy gas at $1.44/mmBtu at the border during...

More methanol, acetic acid.(CHINA)
May 1, 2005... Daqing Oilfield Methanol Plant is conducting a feasibility study on expanding its 200,000 t/a methanol capacity. Currently the company runs two 100,000 t/a trains, but may expand one of them to 200,000 or 300,000 t/a. The company is currently...

Drilling for hydrates begins.(UNITED STATES)
May 1, 2005... Test drilling has begun in the Gulf of Mexico for methane hydrates--methane gas trapped in ice crystals by a combination of high pressure and low temperature at the edges of continental shelves worldwide. The drilling ship 'Uncle John' will...

New LNG plant for Angola.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
May 1, 2005... New LNG plant for Angola. Angolan state oil company Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangal) has signed an agreement with ChevronTexaco for the construction of a 5m t/a LNG plant at Soyo in the north of the country. The LNG will...

Hydrogen plant.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
May 1, 2005... Hydrogen plant. BOC is to build a new 1,200m3/hour hydrogen plant at its Pohang gas facility in South Korea for onward supply to Pohang Coated Steel. The plant will be based on steam methane reforming technology.

Methanol tanker hijacked.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
May 1, 2005... Methanol tanker hijacked. A 1,300-tonne Indonesian tanker carrying methanol was hijacked in the Malacca Straits on March 12th. The vessel was boarded by a gang of 35 pirates armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and...

GTL project tender.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
May 1, 2005... GTL project tender. Algerian state oil and gas company Sonatrach has issued a tender for a 36,000 bbl/day gas to liquids plant. The Tinrhert Integrated GTL project will be on the coast and will use gas from the Tinrhert fields, which are under...

Sasol.(People)
May 1, 2005... Sasol has announced the appointment of Pat Davies as chief executive and Trevor Munday as deputy chief executive with effect from 1 July 2005. The appointments follow the upcoming retirement of the current chief executive Pieter Cox. The...

DSM.(People)
May 1, 2005... DSM appointed two new members to the Royal DSM Supervisory Board on 6 April. Claudio Sonder worked for Hoechst from 1966 to 1999 holding various posts in Germany and Brazil and became a member of the managing board in 1996. Sonder later became...

Terra Industries Inc.(People)
May 1, 2005... Terra Industries Inc. has appointed Tim Sterling as its director, Risk Management. Sterling was most recently director, Risk Management for Mississippi Chemical Corporation, which Terra purchased in December 2004.

Diary.(Calendar)
May 1, 2005... June 6-8 2005 IFA Annual Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Contact: IFA Conference Service. Tel: +33 1 53 93 05 00. Fax: +33 1 53 93 05 46. Email: ifa@fertilizer.org June 12-15 ICI Methanol Technology...

Feedstock issues in the natural gas industry.(FEEDSTOCK)
May 1, 2005... With a few exceptions, such as the growth of coal-derived capacity in China, the nitrogen and methanol industries remain largely dependant upon natural gas as a feedstock. The natural gas market is in the process of a long term seismic change,...

Nitrogen 2005 conference report: the Nitrogen 2005 International Conference and Exhibition, organised by British Sulphur Publishing, was held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Bucharest, Romania, from Sunday 7th February to Tuesday 2nd March 2005.(NITROGEN 2005 CONFERENCE)
May 1, 2005... The continuing run of high product prices helped to keep the mood upbeat as 250 delegates from the nitrogen and methanol industries of 39 countries met in Bucharest earlier this year. Nevertheless, as last year, the prospect of future industry...

Project Gaia: methanol for the developing world; Bengt Ebbeson of Domestic AB, and Harry Stokes of the Stokes Consulting Group present an update on their proposal for methanol as a cheap, portable energy source for the developing world.(METHANOL MARKETS)
May 1, 2005... So often communities in the developing world that host modern oil, gas and petrochemical facilities do not have the opportunity to share in the chemical and energy riches that are extracted, processed and transported to the developed world for...

Squeezing out the C[O.sub.2]: though it has a vital influence on the efficiency of the whole ammonia plant, there is often considerable room for improvement in the C[O.sub.2] removal section--and it does not necessarily involve large costs.(SYNTHESIS GAS PURIFICATION)
May 1, 2005... By the time it is fed into the synthesis loop, ammonia synthesis gas consists essentially of nitrogen and hydrogen in the molar proportion 1 : 3, along with minor amounts of atmospheric noble gases (mainly argon) and methane. As generated in...