UPDATED: 03/09/2017 — see Change Log

OWNER: Terra Nitrogen Company LP (CF Industries Holdings Inc)
PROJECT: Nitrogen fertilizer plant[memberful does_not_have_subscription=”1314-ammonia-industry-annual-subscription,1311-ammonia-industry-monthly-subscription,3338-ammonia-industry-30-day-subscription”]

COST (reported): None given
JOB CREATION (reported): 200 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE (reported): 1975

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	1,020,000 mtpy	1,210,000 stpy	[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] CF Industries 2016 10-K. Sources: linked below. [3] [Membership required]. Sources: linked below. [4] [Membership required]. See Methodology.

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SUMMARY STATUS:
The Verdigris plant has been producing ammonia and UAN since 1975. Minor expansion work was completed during scheduled plant turnarounds in each of the last four years. CF Industries has owned over 75% of Terra Nitrogen since 2010.

COST: $46 million for Plants 1 in 1974, $35-40 million for Plants 2 in 1975
JOB CREATION: 200 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE: 1975 Plants 1, 1977 Plants 2

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	1,020,000 mtpy	1,210,000 stpy GROSS 430,000 stpy NET	PLANT #1: 1,650 stpd PLANT #2: 1,850 stpd	1,158,929 mtpy GROSS 406,808 mtpy NET
Nitric Acid			PLANT #1: 1,180 stpd PLANT #2: 1,175 stpd	779,793 mtpy GROSS
UAN		1,955,000 stpy	PLANT #1: 3,260 stpd PLANT #2: 3,350 stpd	2,188,719 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] CF Industries 2016 10-K, assumes average operation for 350 days per year. Sources: linked below. [3] Air permit documents, 2014. Sources: linked below. [4] Adjusted Capacity is in metric tons per year assuming operations for 365 days per year; based on permitted capacities (gross) and company reports (net). See Methodology.

FEEDSTOCK: Natural gas
END PRODUCTS: Ammonia, Nitric Acid, UAN, Argon, Carbon Dioxide

RESEARCH NOTES:
CF Industries has been steadily increasing production capacity at Verdigris over the last four years, adding 10,000 stpy in 2014, 40,000 stpy in 2015, and another 30,000 stpy in 2016, according to each year’s 10-K report.

Agrico Chemical Co started up the Verdigris plant in 1975, with an initial capacity of 425,000 stpy ammonia and 600,000 stpy UAN, at a reported cost of $46 million. Immediately, it commissioned a second ammonia-UAN plant, for $30-40 million, which started up in 1977. Both ammonia plants were built by Pullman Kellogg.

Agrico was originally a subsidiary of Continental Oil Company (later ConocoPhillips) but was purchased by The Williams Company in 1972 for $140 million. Williams had previously purchased the fertilizer assets of Gulf Oil Company in 1971 for $60 million, and it merged all these into Agrico. When it built the Verdigris plant, Agrico’s other assets were ammonia plants in Blytheville, AR, and Faustina, LA, phosphate production, and a sales and distribution operation. In 1987, Williams sold Agrico to Freeport-McMoRan Resource Partners for $350 million.

In 1990, in an LBO led by Agrico’s president, Agricultural Minerals Corporation (AMC) purchased Agrico from Freeport-McMoRan for $275 million.

In 1994, Terra Industries acquired AMC for $400 million – AMC’s assets at that time included the two nitrogen plants at Verdigris and Blytheville, as well as a methanol production plant at Beaumont, TX (now owned by OCI).

CF Industries acquired Terra in 2010, in a deal that created the second largest nitrogen company in the world. Although Terra’s other assets were simply folded into CF Industries, the Verdigris plant operates as its own publicly traded entity, a master limited partnership, Terra Nitrogen Company LP, of which CF Industries owns 75.3%.

The Verdigris plant sits on land belonging to the Cherokee Nation. Product ships out via rail, truck, and barge, onto the Verdigris River and through the nearby Tulsa Port of Catoosa. Nitric acid is also produced for sale, but only by reducing UAN production.[/memberful]

View larger map with all ammonia plants.

ADDRESS: 6606 East 540 Road, Claremore, OK 74019, United States

WEBSITE: http://www.cfindustries.com/plants_verdigris-ok.html

REGULATORY SOURCES:

• USGS: Minerals Yearbook, Nitrogen [RECENT / ARCHIVE]
• EPA Emissions data: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities: Verdigris Plant [LINK]
• Risk Management Plan: Right to Know Network: Terra Nitrogen Limited Partnership, Verdigris Plant [LINK]
• Oklahoma DEQ : Air Quality Permit documents [LINK]
• US Securities and Exchange Commission filings: EDGAR Search Results, TERRA NITROGEN CO L P CIK#: 0000879575 [LINK]
• US Securities and Exchange Commission filings: EDGAR Search Results, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CIK#: 0001324404 [LINK]

NEWS SOURCES:

• 04/01/2016: Terra Nitrogen press release: Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P. Announces All Units at Its Verdigris, Oklahoma Manufacturing Complex Are Operating [LINK]
• 05/26/2015: Tulsa World: It’s a family affair at CF Industries’ facility in Verdigris [LINK]
• 04/13/2015: Terra Nitrogen press release: Terra Nitrogen Company Completes Turnaround Project [LINK]
• 04/04/2014: Tulsa World: 5 Questions: Clint Herring of Verdigris Nitrogen Complex [LINK]
• 03/10/2010: CF Industries press release: CF Industries and Terra Industries Agree to Combine, Creating a Global Industry Leader [PDF]