Nitrogen & Methanol articles from November 2002

Nitrogen & Methanol archives from November 2002

Capping the CAP. (Editorial).(farm subsidies)
November 1, 2002... Following the ratification of the Nice Treaty by a referendum in the Republic of Ireland, the European Union (EU) is now clear to proceed with enlargement to include a further ten new prospective members. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland,...

Strengthened demand fuels price surge. (Price Trends: Ammonia).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Strengthening demand from Europe and North Africa pulled Yuzhnyy prices that had been languishing in the $90s/t f.o.b. up sharply during September, as traders scrambled to fill positions. By the end of the month Yuzhnyy rates were in the high...

Prices slide on slack demand. (Price Trends: Urea).(urea)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Urea prices peaked in early August and were soon on the slide again as demand weakened and supply remained good in all regions. Demand from South America and Vietnam absorbed some of the FSU material in early September, but not enough to stop...

Market hits a balance point. (Price Trends: Methanol).(natural gas prices)
November 1, 2002... The October contract natural gas reference price was settled early in the month with the calculated average for Texas and Louisiana at $3.76/mmBtu. This is up $0.34/mmBtu from September's contract number, and is the highest price for contract...

Price indication. (Price Trends).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... PRICE INDICATIONS Cash equivalent mid-Sept mid-July mid-May mid-Mar Ammonia ($/t) fob Caribbean 115-120 96 92-102 78-82 fob Arab Gulf 111-116 104-106 107-115 92-96...

Group of ministers proposes incremental RPS changes. (Nitrogen Industry News: India).(retention pricing scheme)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... India's continuing attempts to grasp the nettle of its urea subsidy policy has resulted in a report by a group of ministers to the cabinet council for economic affairs recommending some changes to the current retention pricing scheme (RPS)....

EU removes anti-dumping duty on Pulawy UAN. (Nitrogen Industry News: European Union).(Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy S.A.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The European Commission's review investigation on Polish producer Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy SA (ZAP) has found that there is no longer dumping by ZAP in the EU. The European Council has therefore removed the current anti-dumping duty of 19/t on...

DSM in AS joint venture. (Nitrogen Industry News: China).(Sinpoec Nanjing Chemical Industries Co.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Dutch chemical firm DSM has agreed to build a joint venture caprolactam and ammonium sulphate plant with the Sinpoec Nanjing Chemical Industries Company (SNCIC), a subsidiary of Sinopec. The DSM Nanjing Chemical Company will be 60% owned by DSM...

NPC awards Kermanshah project. (Nitrogen Industry News: Iran).(National Petrochemical Co.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has awarded the $260m contract for the Kermanshah ammonia/urea project to a consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries/Tomen/Namvaran. The contract calls for the provision of licences, basic and detailed...

Johnson Matthey buys Synetix. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... ICI has sold its catalyst business Synetix, formerly ICI Katalco, to UK catalyst and precious metals firm Johnson Matthey. The sale, for [pounds sterling]260m ($405m). will be used to restructure ICI's debts. Regulatory and shareholder...

Protests against terminal. (News in Brief).(Environmental protests)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Environmental protests have continued against TogliattiAzot's proposed $150m ammonia shipping terminal on the Taman peninsula, on Russia's Black Sea coast opposite the Crimea. The campaign began in August and has seen protestors blocking access...

CNC plant up and running. (News in Brief).(Caribbean Nitrogen Co.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Caribbean Nitrogen Company's 610,000 t/a ammonia plant at Point Lisas has started on schedule and is exceeding rated capacity according to the company. The plant is Trinidad's ninth ammonia unit and the third using KBR's ruthenium catalysed...

TDA sponsors Nigeria study. (News in Brief).(US Trade and Development Agency)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The US Trade and Development Agency is providing $450,000 to help cover the cost of a feasibility study into building a fertilizer complex in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. The plan is to use natural gas currently being flared. Product mix and size of...

Indonesian AN. (News in Brief).(ammonium nitrate unit)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Parna Raya in Indonesia is planning a 200,000 t/a ammonium nitrate unit downstream of Kaltim Parna Industri's 500,000 t/a ammonia plant at Bontang, Borneo.

Local firm wins Bandar Imam contract. (Nitrogen Industry News: Iran).(Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Co.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Iranian company Petrochemical Industries Design & Engineering Co. (PIDEC) has won NPC's contract to build a 675,000 t/a ammonia plant at the Razi complex at Bandar Imam, doubling capacity at the site. PIDEC will license technology from Ammonia...

Hydro considering nitrate solution for oilfields. (Nitrogen Industry News: Norway).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Nitrate solutions could play a key role in extending the production life of oilfields, according to Norsk Hydro. Hydro has been experimenting with pumping sodium and calcium nitrate and other nitrate-based chemicals into some of its wells in...

Incitec to merge with Pivot. (Nitrogen Industry News: Australia).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Australian fertilizer producers Incitec and Pivot are intending to merge to form a new company; Incitec Pivot. The new firm's share capital will be 70% owned by current Incitec shareholders and 30% from Pivot, meaning that Australian explosives...

Itera to buy into RustavAzot. (Nitrogen Industry News: Georgia).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Itera, Russia's second largest gas company, may take a share in Georgian fertilizer producer RustavAzot in exchange for writing off $90m in unpaid gas bills. Itera has already invested some $2.5m in improvements at the plant, which had been in...

Grande Paroisse disputes consultants' report. (Nitrogen Industry News: France).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Grande Paroisse has taken issue with a report by consultancy firm Cidecos-Conseil on the explosion at the AZF plant at Toulouse last year. The report, prepared on behalf of the Grande Paroisse Health and Safety Working Committee (HSWC), run by...

NPK fire at Montoir. (Nitrogen Industry News: France).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... A minor fire aboard a vessel loading NPK fertilizer at Montoir has raised fresh concerns in the French media, coming as it did around the 1st anniversary of the 21st September explosion at Toulouse. Hydro Agri has initiated a 'fast working...

Chimco in trouble. (Nitrogen Industry News: Bulgaria).(finance)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Debt-ridden Bulgarian fertilizer producer Chimco is facing bankruptcy unless it can restart production by the end of the year. This is the result of an ultimatum by majority shareholders AVST Trading and Jagoil. Chimco has been unable to...

Koch sells ammonia pipeline. (Nitrogen Industry News: United States).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Dallas-based Kaneb Pipeline Operating Partnership has bought Koch's 2,000 mile anhydrous ammonia pipeline system for $144m. The pipeline runs from Donaldsville, South Carolina to the north on both sides of the Mississippi River into the...

Urea to ammonia contract. (Nitrogen Industry News: United States).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... California-based Wahlco will install the company's patented U2A ureato-ammonia conversion system in a gas-fired power station near Baltimore. The $1m system will provide 50kg/hr ammonia from a 50% urea solution for use in an ammonia-based NOx...

Methanex suffers reverse in NAFTA claim. (Gas and Methanol News: United States).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The UN Commission on International Law has presented Canadian methanol giant Methanex with a major headache in the company's ongoing claim under the rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement that its market in the US was illegally...

Rentech to sell Sand Creek. (Gas and Methanol News: United States).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Denver-based Rentech has abandoned its gas to liquids (GTL) ambitions within the USA with the announcement of the sale of the Sand Creek, Colorado methanol facility, in which Rentech has a 50% stake. Rentech, together with the Republic...

Egypt MTO plans slip. (Gas and Methanol News: Egypt).(methanol-to-olefins)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Reports indicate that plans to develop a methanol-to-olefins (MTO) complex in Egypt have been put back to 2007. The MTO plant was to be part of a gas-based complex at Damietta, Egypt, being developed by local firm the Egyptian Arab Trading...

GTL project gets initial approval. (Gas and Methanol News: Indonesia).(gas-to-liquids)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Indonesian state oil company Pertamina has okayed Rentech's proposal for a 16,500bbl/day GTL facility on Sulawesi. The two companies are now engaged in a final definition of the project, which is expected to be part of a gas-based complex...

Deadline for GTL bids extended. (Gas and Methanol News: Qatar).(gas-two -liquids)
November 1, 2002... Bidders for the EPC contract to build SasolChevron's 34,000bbl/day GTL plant in Oman have been given until December to submit final prices for the $1bn plant. Four groups have been prequalified to submit bids for the engineering, procurement...

Qatar may triple LNG capacity by 2010. (Gas and Methanol News: Qatar).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Qatar's energy minister has told delegates to the Gastech conference in Doha that his country could be exporting 45m t/a of LNG by 2010. Qatargas and Rasgas between them currently account for about 15m t/a. However, ExxpnMobil is aiming to...

India still casting about for gas imports. (Gas and Methanol News: India).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... India is facing increasing problems in its quest to get more natural gas into the country. Both pipeline and LNG schemes are under consideration but none seem to be running smoothly. The Dabhol LNG plant has fallen by the wayside thanks to the...

Ethanol in gasoline law. (Gas and Methanol News: India).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Indian government has mandated the blending of 5% ethanol in gasoline in nine states from January 1st 2003. The move is claimed to be aimed at reducing dependence on foreign oil, but a more pressing concern is to assist Indian sugar...

Largest gas find for several years. (Gas and Methanol News: India).(India)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Fortuitously, just as India's gas situation is looking ever more parlous, Reliance Industries has made the largest find of gas for years on India's east coast at Krishna Godavari. Preliminary estimates are that the field may be in excess of 5...

New route to fatty acids developed. (Gas and Methanol News: Japan).(Sumitomo Chemical)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Sumitomo Chemical has developed a new process to produce fatty acid methyl esters without generating any environmentally undesired byproduct, by the reaction of methanol with vegetable oil in a supercritical state. Fatty acid methyl esters...

GTL project expands. (Gas and Methanol News: Australia).(gas-to-liquids)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... SasolChevron has expanded the size of its projected gas to liquids (GTL) facility at Barrow Island, Western Australia. Originally projected to be 34,000bbl/day, the same as the SasolChevron developments in Qatar and Nigeria, the project is now...

LNG supply deal to China. (Gas and Methanol News: Australia).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The ink is finally dry on a A$25bn (US$13.5bn) LNG supply contract from Australia to China. Australia will supply 3.0m t/a of LNG to Guangdong from 2005 to 2030, probably necessitating the construction of a fifth LNG train in Western Australia....

The gas keeps on coming. (Gas and Methanol News: Trinidad & Tobago).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... BP has announced the discovery of a further one trillion cubic feet (28bcm) of gas off Trinidad. The gas forms part of the Iron Horse field to the east of the island. BP commented that it "confirms our long-held view that this country possesses...

Clarification.(Kaltenbach-Thuring)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The other kind of AN In our recent article on industrial grade ammonium nitrate (Nitrogen & Methanol 259, pp38-43), we are advised that some features shown in the ammonium nitrate flow diagram in Fig. 1 of this article are proprietary...

The Fertilizer Association of India (FAI). (People).(elections)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Fertilizer Association of India (FAI) has elected P. S. Gahlaut, managing director of IPL, as its new chairman, replacing outgoing chairman Ajay Shriram. FAI has also elected H.C. Grover, managing director of Chambal Fertilizers and...

BCT Chemtrade. (People).(company president leaves)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Jan van Essen, president of BCT Chemtrade, has left the company after two years in the company's head office at Zug, Switzerland. The post has been advertised.

UK marketing. (People).(Norsk Hydro UK)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Peter Fergusson has been appointed as UK marketing director of Norsk Hydro UK, following the retirement of John Spiers. Fergusson had been legal counsel for Hydro for four years, following a career with London solicitors Norton Rose. He will...

BASF. (People).(Execs)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... BASF has appointed Eva Kraut, chair of the company's IT services, to the supervisory board of BASF AG. She replaces Ellen Schneider, who is chair of the joint works council of Elastorgan.

Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL). (People).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL) Fertilizer Europe has appointed Robert Layborne as managing director of both Cleveland Potash and Iberpotash and head of potash production in Europe. Howard Clark has also replaced Roger Cockcroft as sales and...

Diary.(meetings)
November 1, 2002... 2002 November 18-20 Fertilizantes Cono Sur Conference, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Contact: Conference Administrator, British Sulphur Publishing Ltd 31 Mount Pleasant London WC1X OAD, UK. Tel: +44 20 7903 2010. Fax:...

Cautious optimism in San Diego. (Conference Report).(AIChE Ammonia Safety Symposium in San Diego)
November 1, 2002... Nearly 300 people attended the AIChE Ammonia Safety Symposium in San Diego in September - a very creditable turn-out, given the contemporary circumstances. The keynote speaker even held out the prospect of a slight improvement from the grim...

Methanol project listing 2002.
November 1, 2002... Methanol project listing 2002 Contractor Licensor Company AUSTRALIA n.a. Synetix Methanex n.a. n.a. MGC Lurgi Oel Gas Chemie Lurgi Oel...

DME - the new wonder fuel? (Methanol Derivatives).(Dimethyl ether)
November 1, 2002... Dimethyl ether may be set for a tremendous boom if proposed uses as an environmentally-friendly heating or power generation fuel or as a DERV-fuel additive or substitute take off. It all depends on the economics of its large-scale production....

Integrated gas complexes: is the integrated gas-based petrochemical complex the future for methanol production? (Gas-based Complexes).
November 1, 2002... Methanex call it a 'Syngas Factory'. BP call it a 'Methane Refinery'. But whatever name it goes by, it is a widely-discussed topic in the oil and gas industry, and could ultimately represent the way forward for the nitrogen and methanol...