UPDATED: 04/28/2018 — see Change Log

OWNER: Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers LLC (CVR Partners LP / CVR Energy Inc)
PROJECT: Ammonia-UAN plant[memberful does_not_have_subscription=”1314-ammonia-industry-annual-subscription,1311-ammonia-industry-monthly-subscription,3338-ammonia-industry-30-day-subscription”]

COST (reported): More than $300 million in 1999
JOB CREATION (reported): 113 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE (reported): 2000

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	375,000 mtpy	1,300 stpd	[Membership required]	[Membership required]
Units: stpd, stpy, mtpd, mtpy = short/metric tons per day/year. [1] United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Yearbook, Nitrogen gives capacity in metric tons per year, calculated as “engineering design capacity adjusted for 340 days per year of effective production capability,” rounded to three significant digits. Source: most recent year, Table 4: Domestic Producers of Ammonia, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/. [2] Company website. [3] [Membership required]. Sources: linked below. [4] [Membership required]. See Methodology.

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SUMMARY STATUS: Operational
The Coffeyville plant started up in 2000 and, until 2016, was the newest ammonia plant in the US. It is currently the only ammonia plant in the US to use petroleum coke feedstock. In April 2016, CVR merged with Rentech; and also completed minor expansion work on its Coffeyville ammonia plant.

COST: More than $300 million in 1997
JOB CREATION: 113 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE: 2000

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	375,000 mtpy	1,300 stpd		430,459 mtpy
UAN		3,000 stpd		993,367 mtpy
Units: stpd, stpy, mtpd, mtpy = short/metric tons per day/year. [1] United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Yearbook, Nitrogen gives capacity in metric tons per year, calculated as “engineering design capacity adjusted for 340 days per year of effective production capability,” rounded to three significant digits. Source: most recent year, Table 4: Domestic Producers of Ammonia, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/. [2] Company website. [3] Kansas DHE does not publish permits online. Sources: linked below. [4] Adjusted Capacity is in metric tons per year assuming operations for 365 days per year; based on company data. See Methodology.

FEEDSTOCK: Petroleum coke
END PRODUCTS: Ammonia, UAN

RESEARCH NOTES:
According to CVR’s Q1 2018 earnings announcement, the Coffeyville ammonia plant is performing well, with ” on-stream rates of 100 percent for gasification, 99.8 percent for ammonia and 99.2 percent for UAN.” CVR completed a minor expansion during scheduled turnaround work in 2016, increasing the plant’s ammonia capacity to 1,300 stpd.

In 1997, Farmland Industries announced it would build a new nitrogen fertilizer plant beside its existing oil refinery in Coffeyville, which had been built by the National Refining Company in 1906.

Farmland took two gasifiers from a Texaco coal gasification plant in Cool Water, California, and converted them to allow the ammonia plant to use the refinery’s byproduct petroleum coke as feedstock.

The ammonia-UAN plant started operations in 2000, after construction delays had pushed the cost of the plant from the original $200 to $250 million estimate, to more than $300 million. The Coffeyville plant became “the youngest nitrogen fertilizer plant in North America” – and was until new plants came onstream in 2016.

Farmland declared bankruptcy in 2002 and the Coffeyville refinery and nitrogen plant, described as an “albatross” by the bankruptcy judge, was one of the last assets to be sold. In 2004, it was purchased for $281 million by Coffeyville Resources LLC, an operating company set up by private equity fund Pegasus Capital Advisors LP. The next year, in 2005, Pegasus sold Coffeyville Resources “for $700 million to $800 million,” to a private equity consortium including Goldman Sachs and Kelso & Co.

In 2006, they announced a $92 million expansion, of both the refinery and the nitrogen plant.

In June 2007, now called CVR Energy Inc, the project split its operations into two subsidiary entities, with the refinery operating as CVR Refining LP and the nitrogen plant operating as CVR Partners LP. In April 2011, CVR Partners went public, floating approximately 30% of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 2012, CVR Partners announced another expansion, to bring the UAN capacity up from 2,025 stpd to over 3,000 stpd. This was completed in 2013.

CVR Partners purchases around 70% of its pet coke feedstock from its sister company, the refinery, under a long-term agreement that lasts until 2027. The plant currently consumes “approximately 1,400 tons per day” of pet coke, although it could also use coal feedstock. Around 97% of the ammonia produced is upgraded to UAN, and more ammonia is purchased for upgrade as well.

In 2015, CVR announced a merger with Rentech Inc, which operated an ammonia plant at East Dubuque, IL, to “create an expanded MLP with production facilities in Kansas and Illinois, and a leading position in the U.S. nitrogen fertilizer industry.” The merger closed on April 1, 2016, giving CVR Partners “an expanded geographical footprint, diversification of its raw material feedstocks, wider customer reach and greater potential for cash-flow generation.”

Post-merger, CVR is 34% owned by Rentech’s former shareholders (including Rentech Inc, its former parent company, which owned 59.7% of the publicly traded subsidiary).[/memberful]

View larger map with all ammonia plants.

ADDRESS: 701 East Martin Street, Coffeyville, KS, 67337, United States

WEBSITE: http://www.cvrpartners.com/
WEBSITE: http://www.cvrenergy.com/

REGULATORY SOURCES:

• USGS: Minerals Yearbook, Nitrogen [RECENT / ARCHIVE]
• EPA Emissions data: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities: COFFEYVILLE RESOURCES NITROGEN FERT. [LINK]
• Risk Management Plan: Right to Know Network: Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers, L.L.C. [LINK]
• Operating Permit (Title V): none available online at Kansas DHE [LINK]
• US Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory filings: EDGAR Search Results, CVR PARTNERS, LP CIK#: 0001425292 [LINK]

NEWS SOURCES:

• 04/26/2018: CVR Partners press release: CVR Partners Reports 2018 First Quarter Results [PDF]
• 10/27/2016: CVR Partners press release: CVR Partners Reports 2016 Third Quarter Results [LINK]
• 04/01/2016: CVR Partners press release: CVR Partners Completes Acquisition of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. [PDF]
• 10/31/2015: Seeking Alpha earnings call transcript: CVR Partners’ (UAN) CEO Mark Pytosh Discusses Q3 2015 Results [LINK]
• 01/09/2013: CVR Partners press release: CVR Partners Provides Update on UAN Expansion Project [PDF]
• 01/04/2006: Topeka Capital Journal: Coffeyville refinery complex plans expansion [LINK]
• 07/03/2005: Kansas City Business Journal: Ex-Farmland unit sells for $700M [LINK]
• 03/05/2004: Tulsa World: Farmland sells Coffeyville plant [LINK]