Tag: BASF

High feedstock prices and regulatory burdens continue to put pressure on European nitrogen producers to innovate.

Haldor Topsoe has appointed Elena Scaltritti as the company’s new chief commercial officer. She will take up her new position no later than July 1st, 2022. She has previously been executive vice president at Korea’s SONGWON Industrial Group, where she was responsible for the group’s commercial activities.

A shortages of highly pure nickel is driving major new investment in high pressure acid leaching plants, especially in Indonesia, with a significant impact upon sulphuric acid and sulphur demand.

CRU Events will convene the 2022 Phosphates International Conference & Exhibition in Florida at the Tampa Marriott Water Street, 7-9 March.

KP Engineering, LP specialising in the design and execution of customized EPC solutions for the refining, syngas, hydrogen and renewable fuels industries, has named Bill Preston as its new president and Chief Executive Officer. Based in Houston, Preston has served as KPE’s president and Chief Operating Officer since 2015. During that time, he was responsible for leading significant growth and upholding KPE’s core operational values of respect and integrity. As CEO, he will be responsible for the overall direction, execution and global expansion of the company. Preston has 34 years of experience leading and growing technology-based businesses in the engineering, oil and gas, energy and chemical production sectors. Prior to joining KP Engineering, he served in vice president roles for companies including a division of Texaco and ChevronTexaco, Linc Energy, Synthesis Energy Systems and GreatPoint Energy. He also served as CEO of The Energy Capital Group, developing syngas and chemical production facilities in the petrochemical and oil refining industries. He is currently the Executive Director of the Global Syngas Technologies Council, the hydrogen and syngas industry’s premier trade association.

Newly developed flotation reagents are improving the selectivity and grade/recovery of phosphate and potash concentrates.

Recent spikes in natural gas prices, particularly in Europe, have highlighted the tightness of natural gas markets around the world going into the northern hemisphere winter. Are ammonia and methanol producers on for a run of high gas prices in 2022?

A look at papers presented at CRU’s annual Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid conference, which was once again held virtually, in November 2021.

Rapidly escalating natural gas prices forced plant closures across Europe during September. Worst affected was the UK, where a fire at a cross-Channel electricity cable and low output from wind energy has, combined with low domestic storage capacity led to a surge in demand for gas for power stations and wholesale gas prices reached a record 350 pence per therm (equivalent to $46/ MMBtu) in October. On September 15th, CF Industries announced that it was halting operations at both its Billingham and Ince fertilizer plans due to high gas prices. Although ammonia prices have also risen, they have not kept pace with gas price rises, and there is a limit to what farmers could be expected to pay. CF CEO Anthony Will said: “$900 is the gas cost in a tonne of ammonia and the last trade in the ammonia market that was done was $700 a tonne”. As these plants supply most of the UK’s carbon dioxide for food and drink manufacture, the government said it would provide “limited financial support” to keep the Billingham plant operational, and that plant re-started on September 21st. Meanwhile, BASF closed its Antwerp and Ludwigshafen plants in Belgium and Germany due to what the company called “extremely challenging” economics. Fertiberia ceased production at its Palos de la Frontera site in Spain, and Puertellano remained down for scheduled maintenance. Yara shut 40% of its European ammonia production in September, and OCI partially closed its Geleen plant in the Netherlands. Achema in Lithuania decided against restarting its ammonia plant following maintenance in August, and OPZ in Ukraine shut one ammonia line at Odessa, with Ostchem and DniproAzot likely to follow. Borealis in Austria also reduced production.

Like the vital nitrogen fertilizer they handle, seasonal cheer will be in short supply for Europe’s ammonia producers and buyers this festive season, after many difficult months in which upward price trajectories showed no sign of slowing.