Nitrogen & Methanol back issues from September 2002:
Nervous times. (Editorial).(impact of September 11 on the chemical industry)(Editorial)
Sep 01, 2002 ... A year on from both September 11th and Toulouse, the longer-term impact of these tragic occurrences is starting to become clearer, and on the face of it there could be major changes ahead for our industry. The most obvious change so far has been that perception of political risk ...
Price trends.(ammonia market)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
Sep 01, 2002 ... AMMONIA Market evens out Ammonia prices seemed to reach bottom at the start of July, although some uncertainty remained throughout the month. Tightening supply due to production problems limiting the availability at Yuzhnyy was offset by the usual slackening in ...
Tighter regulations on AN storage. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The European Parliament has approved a proposal to tighten regulations on the storage of ammonium nitrate following the explosion in Toulouse last year. An amendment to the Seveso II directive, governing sites which consume, produce or store hazardous substances, includes measures to widen ...
More casualties of Toulouse blast. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Grande Paroisse plant in Toulouse, France)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... There have been more casualties as the fallout from the explosion at the Grande Paroisse plant in Toulouse continues. One is the NPK blending plant at Melville, owned by Engrais Nord France. The 150,000 t/a NPK plant will close permanently in September: the site is deemed to be too close ...
HSC proposes lower AN thresholds. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The UK Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has proposed lowering the ammonium nitrate notification threshold level following a review prompted by the explosion at the Grande Paroisse plant in Toulouse last year. The HSC is proposing amending the Notification of Installations Handling ...
FMA says NVZ extension need not affect fertilizer demand. (Nitrogen Industry News).(UK Fertilizer Manufacturers' Association; Nitrogen Vulnerable Zones)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The UK Fertilizer Manufacturers' Association (FMA) has said that the extension of so-called Nitrogen Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) need not affect the overall application level of fertilizers, but that farmers must be more careful about the timing of such applications. The FMA is urging all ...
TFI sets up security working group. (Nitrogen Industry News).(The Fertilizer Institute )(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) in Washington has set up a joint working group to assess and address security issues facing US fertilizer producers in the wake of September 11th. The committee consist of Croplife America, representing crop protection producers, the Agricultural Retailers ...
Farmland sheds over 300 jobs. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Farmland Industries has cut nearly 300 jobs from its workforce of over 7,700 in several waves of redundancies following the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. Farmland filed for Chapter 11 protection following 2Q 2002 losses of $30m and ...
Agrium faces losses from Unocal purchase. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Canadian fertilizer producer Agrium has begun a lawsuit against US oil and gas company Unocal over liabilities arising from Agrium's purchase of Unocal's fertilizer assets. According to Agrium, the company faces up to $40m in environmental liabilities arising from the purchase, of which it ...
Deadline for bids extended. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (Safco), an affiliate of Sabic, has extended the deadline for bids to build its new ammonia-urea complex (Safco IV) until September 7th. Bidders for the contract, which is estimated to be in region of $400-500m, currently include KBR, Uhde, Chiyoda, ...
Fresh bidding round in Bahwan project. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Bahwan Trading Company)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The Bahwan Trading Company (BTC) has asked bidders for the EPC contract for the Sohar ammonia-urea complex to resubmit commercial bids. Three bids have so far been received, and following a six month technical evaluation all are still in the running. Bahwan says that it will now make the ...
Qeshm Island: the saga continues. (Nitrogen Industry News).(ammonia plant planned)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Stymied in their attempts to develop a 726,000 t/a ammonia-urea complex at Iran's Qeshm Island, Indian fertilizer producers the Krishak Bharati Cooperative (Kribhco) and the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (Iffco) are now looking at a standalone ammonia plant at the site. The Qeshm ...
Toyo forced to pull out of Iran. (Nitrogen Industry News).(Toyo Engineering )(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Toyo Engineering (TEC) has been forced to withdraw a bid to construct a 675,000 t/a ammonia plant for the Iranian National Petrochemical Company (NPC) at Razi, following new regulations issued by the Japanese Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The METI rule is part of ...
Job cuts at Sud-Chemie. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... German chemical and catalyst manufacturer Sud Chemie is cutting 200 jobs from its workforce of 4,700 as part of a three year restructuring ...
Still no sale for Synetix. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... ICI catalyst division Synetix (formerly ICI Katalco) still has no agreed buyer some months after the parent company put it on the market, although UK precious metals and chemicals firm Johnson Matthey has said that it considers ...
Expansion project begins in China. (News in Brief).(Sichuan Chemical)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Sichuan Chemical has begun revamp work at its urea plant in Chengdu. Capacity will expand from 480,000 ...
Kemira in admin shake-up. (News in Brief).(reorganization)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Kemira is engaged in a reorganisation of its administration and service departments prior to its proposed sell-off of fertilizer business unit Kemira Agro. The company has said that ...
Metacril doubles AS capacity. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Brazilian chemicals producer Metacril has completed a $35m investment programme at its ammonium ...
Startup for new granular conversion. (Nitrogen Industry News).(PIG, Kuwait)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... PIG in Kuwait has started up its new 578,000 t/a granular urea plant at Shuaiba. The plant was uprated from the previous 330,000 t/a, and the prilling tower replaced by a granulation unit. The work was conducted by Italian contractor Tecnimont. However, a lack of carbon dioxide at the site ...
Shell to phase out MTBE by end of year. (Gas and Methanol News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Shell has joined BP in indicating that it will voluntarily cease use of MTBE in its Californian gasoline blends by the end of 2002, switching to ethanol blending instead. As well as BP and Shell, Philips Petroleum has also said that it will reduce use of MTBE by 80% and replace it with ...
Low demand pushes gas prices down. (Gas and Methanol News).(Untied States)
Sep 01, 2002 ... US natural gas production dropped by 3% during the first quarter of 2002 and a further 1% during the second quarter, according to figures released recently. Gas production is now down 6% on the same period for last year. The falling production numbers have been driven in turn by falling ...
Qafac in refinance deal. (Gas and Methanol News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Qatar's methanol and MTBE producer, the Qatar Fuel Additives Co (Qafac), is in the process of arranging a refinancing deal over $300m of debt. The debt facility will extend over 8 1/2 years and will be proced at 75 points above the LIBOR rate. The banks involved are Qatar ...
Chiyoda wins contract for methanol plant. (Gas and Methanol News).(International Methanol Co.)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Japanese engineering firm Chiyoda has won the $250m engineering, procurement and construction contract for the International Methanol Company's (IMC's) 970,000 t/a new methanol facility -- see Nitrogen & Methanol 258, Jul/Aug 2002, p10. However, plans to build associated butanediol and ...
New LNG process will cut costs. (Gas and Methanol News).(natural gas liquefaction process from Axens)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... French technology company Axens has launched a new high-performance natural gas liquefaction process which the company has co-developed with the Institute Francais du Petrole (IFP). The Liquefin process claims to achieve 15-20% higher capacities than conventional techniques at 25% lower ...
New GTL proposal. (Gas and Methanol News).(Petroleum Oil & Gas Corporation, South Africa)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... A new small-scale gas to liquids (GTL) plant is to be constructed in South Africa by the Petroleum Oil & Gas Corporation of South Africa, a joint venture between Norway's Statoil and South Africa's Mossgas. The plant, to be constructed by Technip-Coflexip using Statoil's ...
Work begins on direct synthesis DME pilot plant. (Gas and Methanol News).(DME Development Corporation)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... A Franco-Japanese consortium calling itself the DME Development Corporation is to construct a 33,000 t/a pilot plant in Kushiro, Hokkaido, utilising a novel direct synthesis technology for dimethyl ether (DME) production. The consortium includes: NKK; Nippon Sanso; Toyota Tsusho; Hitachi; ...
Government refuses aid for proposed GTL plant. (Gas and Methanol News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The Australian federal government has said that it will not consider special financial assistance for an A$12.6bn (US$7bn) GTL project proposal for Barrow Island off Western Australia, although it has said that the Western Australian government should support the scheme. Developer ...
Western majors sign up to East-West pipeline. (Gas and Methanol News).
Sep 01, 2002 ... China's ambitious plans to build a pipeline from one side of the country to the other have received a boost from the involvement of several major oil and gas companies in a $20bn deal inked in early July. ExxonMobil, Gazprom and Royal Dutch/Shell will each take a 15% stake in the project, ...
Progress on world's largest methanol plant. (Gas and Methanol News).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Davy Process Technology -- formerly Kvaerner Process Technology -- has completed the process design of a 1.8m t/a methanol plant for Methanol Holdings Trinidad Ltd (MHTL). According to Davy, agreement has been reached with managing contractor Ferrostaal AG to begin detailed engineering of ...
British Sulphur Consultants. (People).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... British Sulphur Consultants has relocated its North American office. The new contact details are as follows: 17100 W. Bluemound Road, Suite 101, ...
Ecom trading. (People).(Former Ecom manager joins Lamager)(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Lamager, parent company of Mexican fertilizer buyer and importer FYPA, has appointed Angelica Olguin as contact administrator for fertilizers, international metals ...
Fertilizer Association of India. (People).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Mr RJ Masilamani has resigned as director general of the Fertilizer Association of India. The FAI's ...
BASF. (People).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... BASF has appointed Jurgen Hambrecht to succeed Jurgen Strube as ...
Canada's Prism Sulphur Co. (People).(Brief Article)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Canada's Prism Sulphur Co. of Calgary has announced the resignation of Marilyn Olson, the company's ...
Eastern Europe after privatisation -- Bulgaria as a case study. (Eastern Europe).
Sep 01, 2002; ... The past decade has seen great changes in the eastern European fertilizer industry. Companies have been forced to adapt to new market realities and higher feedstock prices, and many companies have been privatised. In this article, Kiril Petrov and Zornitza Kirova of MM Consult revisit ...
Turning the supertanker. (Russian Gas).(the reform of Russia's Gazprom; impact on fertilizer industry)
Sep 01, 2002 ... Over the past couple of years the Russian government has finally begun to tackle the challenge of changing the course of the juggernaut that is Gazprom, the privatised gas monopoly. Nitrogen & Methanol looks at the story so far, and the possible impact on the Russian and eastern European ...
AN/NA meeting. (Ammonium Nitrate/Nitric Acid Meeting).(Calendar)
Sep 01, 2002 ... The new merged Ammonium Nitrate/Nitric Acid (ANNA) Meeting is scheduled for October 7-10, 2002 at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson, Arizona, from October 7th-11th. Running alongside the new combined ammonium nitrate/nitric acid meeting will be an exhibition organised by ...
Pressure drop improvements in a fixed bed reactor -- two case studies. (Ammonia Technology).
Sep 01, 2002 ... Venkat Pattabathula and David Craig of Agrium discuss how significant reduction of pressure drop was achieved with the installation of two different catalyst support systems. The modifications were very minor, inexpensive, resulting in energy savings and increased production rates. ...
The other kind of AN. (Ammonium Nitrate).
Sep 01, 2002 ... Whatever its future as a fertilizer, ammonium nitrate will continue to be produced for technical uses. A safer alternative to conventional high explosives, it now forms the basis of the vast majority of commercial explosives for civilian use. As last year's cataclysm at Toulouse ...
Inching towards a solution to the [N.sub.2]O problem. (Nitric Acid).
Sep 01, 2002 ... Having cracked the problem of acid-forming nitrogen oxides, the nitric acid industry is still seeking elegant solutions to the nitrous oxide problem Nitrogen has a number of oxides corresponding to its various valence states. There are three which have anything more than just a ...