Nitrogen & Methanol articles from September 2004

Nitrogen & Methanol archives from September 2004

The industry's 'golden summer'.(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... At the end of the 1990s, oil prices were languishing below $15/barrel. Oil-driven economies like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela were suffering badly. Now the price has passed $40/barrel and shows no sign of stopping. A global economic...

Ammonia prices pass their peak.(Ammonia)
September 1, 2004... Ammonia prices continued to rise through June, albeit more slowly than they had in May, and but the trend did not continue into July, and prices began to flatten out or fall slightly during the month. US buying was no longer the motor for...

Urea reaches 10-year price high.(Urea)
September 1, 2004... A jump in urea prices came in late June, driven by fears from Latin American buyers that product from the FSU could be tighter over the next couple of months. Bunge and other Brazilian buyers concluded 100,000 tonnes of purchases for $190-195/t...

High oil and gas prices keep methanol high.(Methanol)
September 1, 2004... The August contract natural gas reference price was settled early in the month, at $6.05/mmBtu for Texas, and $6.15/mmBtu for Louisiana, up $0.125/mmBtu from July. As July progressed, stronger crude oil and natural gas pricing was observed, not...

Terra to buy MissChem.(United States)
September 1, 2004... Terra Industries and Mississippi Chemicals have agreed to the purchase of all outstanding shares of Mississippi by Terra for an estimated $268m. The purchase includes $107m of stock and an assumed debt of $161m. The Committee of Unsecured...

Rentech buys Royster-Clark for gas to coal conversion.(Nitrogen Industry News)
September 1, 2004... Gas to liquids technology supplier Rentech has agreed to buy Royster-Clark Nitrogen Inc. and the company's 830 t/d natural gas-fed nitrogen fertilizer production plant in East Dubuque, Illinois. Rentech will pay $63m for the business, including...

Enaex will keep urea plant.(Chile)
September 1, 2004... Chilean explosives manufacturer Enaex has decided that the company will continue with its project to expand into urea capacity. The company bought a second-hand 500,000 t/a ammonia and 360,000 t/a urea plant from bankrupt Irish fertilizer...

Urea expansion to follow melamine.(China)
September 1, 2004... The China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) says that following the construction of a planned world-scale 120,000 t/a melamine unit on Hainan Island, which is now expected for 2007, it should be possible to expand urea capacity at Hainan by...

New urea unit for Itera.(Georgia)
September 1, 2004... Russian gas major Itera is planning to build a 1.0m t/a urea plant on the Georgian coast, at either Batumi or Poti, according to industry soruces. Itera has followed its larger rival Gazprom in expanding downstream into fertilizer production in...

Review of AN anti-dumping action to cover nitrophosphates.(European Union)
September 1, 2004... The EU has officially opened an anti-dumping investigation to address EFMA's review application based on new forms of ammonium nitrate (AN) which are allegedly entering the European Union without paying the relevant anti-dumping duty. This...

New storage facility for Achema.(Lithuania)
September 1, 2004... Lithuanian chemical company AB Achema has awarded Uhde the contract to design and build a new ammonia storage tank facility. The new storage facility with a capacity of 15,000 tonnes will be built at Jonava, around 100 km north-west of the...

EuroChem on investment spree.(Russia)
September 1, 2004... Russian fertilizer manufacturer EuroChem has announced $207m of new investments for 2004. About half of the money will go on plant repairs and maintenance, and the rest on new projects. Among the major items of expenditure within the nitrogen...

Johnson Matthey to buy Lancaster Synthesis.(United Kingdom)
September 1, 2004... Johnson Matthey has agreed to acquire the worldwide business of Lancaster Synthesis Ltd from Clariant AG for [pounds sterling]14.2m. The transaction is conditional upon regulatory approval in Germany. Lancaster sells a wide range of organic...

Safco profits up 50%.(Saudi Arabia)
September 1, 2004... The Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co (Safco) has posted net profits of 201m Riyals ($53.6m) during the first half of 2004, compared with $36m for the same period in 2003; a 49% increase. Profits for the 2Q 2004 were SR 84m ($22.4m) compared with SR...

Euro high raises project cost.(Vietnam)
September 1, 2004... The Vietnamese government has asked PetroVietnam to reduce the spiralling costs of its Ca Mau ammonia-urea plant. Project costs for the 800,000 t/a project have risen by nearly one quarter to $612m according to PetroVietnam, due to the...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... In our previous issue, it was incorrectly stated that 200 people had died in the Toulouse explosion of September 2001. This figure actually refers to the number injured. The death toll was 29.

Cargill/IMC to be called Mosaic.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Cargill/IMC to be called Mosaic. IMC Global and Cargill Crop Nutrition have agreed on Mosaic as the new name for the merged company. "We're choosing to call this combination of companies Mosaic because it best captures the rich legacies of both...

EBRD loan for UF production.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... EBRD loan for UF production. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has lent Russian methanol producer Metafrax $15m towards the construction of two urea formaldehyde concentrate plants at the company's Gubhaka site. The...

Nitrammonia to cut 640 jobs.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Nitrammonia to cut 640 jobs. Romanian fertilizer producer Nitrammonia is to cut 640 jobs; over one third of the company's 1,800-strone workforce. The move is part of a restructuring of the company prior to privatisation, when Nitroammonia will...

Iffco in LNG price talks.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Iffco in LNG price talks. The Indian Farmers Fertilizer Collective (Iffco) is in discussions with RasGas of Qatar, Petronas of Malaysia and Oman LNG over the purchase of up to 5m t/a of LNG to feed fertilizer production. Iffco is reportedly...

More urea for Shiraz.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... More urea for Shiraz. The Shiraz Petrochemical Complex, owned by the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) is to build a third ammonia-urea train. A tender will be issued soon, for a 677,000 t/a ammonia and 1.07m t/a urea complex.

Massive gas-based chemicals expansion.(Iran)
September 1, 2004... Iran is continuing to forge ahead with its huge expansion of its gas-based chemicals capacity, using gas from the enormous South Pars field. The Iranian National Petrochemical Company (NPC) recently confirmed with contractors plans that will...

GTL projects advance.(Qatar)
September 1, 2004... ExxonMobil has reached agreement with Qatar over the construction of a $7bn gas to liquids (GTL) project at Ras Laffan Industrial City. Exxon will use its own patented AGC-21 technology for the complex, which will have a capacity of 154,000...

Mega methanol project.(Qatar)
September 1, 2004... The Qatar Fuel Additives Company (Qafac) has contracted Lurgi to supply technology and basic engineering for its own mega methanol venture, a $600m, 2.3m t/a plant which is planned for an onstream date of 2008. Qafac already operates an 825,000...

Tender for new methanol plant.(Saudi Arabia)
September 1, 2004... The Saudi Methanol Company (Ar Razi) has issued a tender for the engineering, procurement and construction contract for its fifth methanol plant at the company's al-Jubail site. The tender, which closes on September 14th, is for a 1.5m t/a...

GTL venture proposal.(Papua New Guinea)
September 1, 2004... Rentechhas signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of New Guinea, local firm Niugini Gas & Chemicals PTE; and the Korean I & G Venture Capital Company, for a feasibility study into the development of a pipeline and...

MTO project continuing.(Nigeria)
September 1, 2004... Singapore-based Eurochem Technologies says that it has gained the approval of the Nigerian government for its methanol to olefins (MTO) complex in the Lekki Export Processing Zone near Lagos. The news puts the project--which some had written...

Methanex MTBE claim gets hearing.(United States)
September 1, 2004... Methanex's $970m claim for damages against the State of California for 'expropriation' of its market for MTBE by the 2003 ban has not gone away. In fact, it got a hearing in Washington in June to decide whether or not the claim would be allowed...

More delays for LNG.(Venezuela)
September 1, 2004... Venezuela's LNG export ambitions have taken another step back as it was announced that the Mariscal Sucre project, the successor to the ill-starred Cristobal Colon LNG venture, will now not be operational before 2009, instead of 2007 as was...

Gas referendum victory for Mesa.(Bolivia)
September 1, 2004... President Carlos Mesa has won his crucial referendum on natural gas development in the gas-rich Tarija region, after riots and demonstrations killed dozens and brought down previous president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and plunged the country...

Grant for feasibility study.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Grant for feasibility study. The US Trade and Development Agency has given a $700,000 grant to the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company to conduct a feasibility study on a 1.7m t/a ammonia and/or methanol plant for Egypt's Damietta region....

Methanol/DME due to start in August.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Methanol/DME due to start in August. Henan Lantian Group's 100,000 t/a DME project at Suping in China is expected to be onstream by the end of August 2004. The Rmb340m ($41m) project also includes 100,000 t/a of new methanol capacity. The Xin...

Rentech looking at domestic GTL.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Rentech looking at domestic GTL. Gas to liquids (GTL) technology supplier Rentech is conducting a feasibility study on a 10,000 bbl/day GTL plant in Wyoming using gasified coal. The state of Wyoming has contributed $500,000 to help fund the...

Methanex shares riding high.(News in Brief)
September 1, 2004... Methanex shares riding high. Methanex shares hit a high of $13.88 on the NASDAQ in July, their best performance since the heady days of 1994-5, after having hit a low of less than $2/share in 2000. The company also announced a 33% increase in...

International Fertiliser Society.(People)
September 1, 2004... At the recent Annual General Meeting of the International Fertiliser Society held in Ravenna, Italy, Kish Shah MBE was elected President of the Society for the 2004/05 season. Kish Shah is now an independent consultant, having worked for Terra...

Romania's Petrom.(People)
September 1, 2004... Romania's Petrom has changed three board members at fertilizer subsidiary Doljchim Craoiva, following a review of procedures following alleged mismanagement in handling of ammonium nitrate. Cornel Lascu is now general manager, replacing Ion...

Mosaic.(People)
September 1, 2004... Mosaic, the company created by newly merged IMC Global and Cargill, has announced a series of changes to the companies' structure. Dan Russell, currently IMC vice president, North American sales will be responsible for Mosaic's direct sales in...

Yara.(People)
September 1, 2004... Yara, formerly Hydro Agri, has also announced major organisational changes following its recent privatisation. Among the top jobs, Daniel Clauw has been appointed as executive vice president to assist CEO Thorleif Enger. Terje Bakken, formerly...

Sud-Chemie.(People)
September 1, 2004... Sud-Chemie has appointed Dr. Gunter von Au as its new chairman of the managing board. Dr von Au joined the group in mid-2001, as CEO of its US subsidiary, Sud-Chemie Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky, and was also deputy chairman of the managing...

Diary.(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... September 20-23 AIChE Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium, Denver, USA. Contact: Scott Rothschild, AIChE, 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA. Tel: +1 212 591 8854. Fax: +1 212 591 8892. Email:...

The market for low density AN: although a minority use for ammonium nitrate, the explosives sector continues to provide one of the major growth areas for the compound.(Ammonium Nitrate)
September 1, 2004... While ammonium nitrate's future as a fertilizer is beginning to look more doubtful, with progressive bans in China, Algeria, Colombia and the Philippines and a steady tightening of regulations worldwide, as an explosive it has never been more...

Advancements in methanol catalysts: Norbert Ringer of Sud-Chemie discusses the development of a new methanol synthesis catalyst for Lurgi's Megamethanol process.(Catalysis)
September 1, 2004... In the 1920s, methanol was produced on an industrial scale over a catalyst that consisted of zinc and chrome oxide. This catalyst required a reaction temperature of 350[degrees]C and higher because of its relatively low activity compared to...

A balanced portfolio: as one of Europe's main fertiliser producers, Grande Paroisse has built up a substantial portfolio of well-proved technology, which is available for licence.(Process Licensing)
September 1, 2004... France's main fertiliser producer, Grande Paroisse SA (GP), is a major manufacturer of ammonium nitrate, urea and phosphates, and over the years it has built up a portfolio of interesting process technologies relating particularly to nitric...

Retrofitting nitric acid and ammonium nitrate plants: though no fundamentally radical changes have taken place in nitric acid and ammonium nitrate technology in the past decade, there are still many older plants which could benefit from retrofitting to bring them up to modern standards of efficiency and cleanliness.(Revamping)
September 1, 2004... A decade or so ago nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production technologies had attained such a degree of maturity that there would today be little to gain by replacing a plant of that vintage with a completely new one. But there are still...

Filamentary filters in AN-NA applications: some of the range of products designed to separate particles from fluids are used to great advantage in ammonium nitrate and nitric acid plants.(Process Equipment)
September 1, 2004... Filters comprising knitted or woven wire or monofilaments of a range of durable materials are widely used in industrial applications for arresting particles which have become aspirated in gas streams. In general, the finer and more efficient...

Non-fertilizer uses of nitric acid: nitric acid is one of the basic chemical building blocks of the nitrogenous fertilizer industry, used in ammonium nitrate and nitrogen solutions as well as various NPK compounds. However, it is also a feedstock for a number of other chemical processes.(Nitric Acid)
September 1, 2004... Nitric acid is mostly produced as 'weak acid' (50-65% by weight), for use in ammonium nitrate production as well as adipic acid manufacture. Higher concentration nitric acid is used for some specialist applications like metallurgy, and is...