Dyno Nobel's new plant at Waggaman, LA, is producing ammonia above its daily rated capacity. Conversely, total production in 2017 is expected to be closer to 80% of annual capacity, because it is likely to be taken offstream regularly this year while it ramps up.
This article discusses the early performance of the Waggaman ammonia plant, and the cost overruns it saw during construction.
EuroChem's CEO confirmed in the Russian press yesterday that the company still intends to build its massive greenfield nitrogen plant in Louisiana. This article introduces some of the changing market conditions that will impact, for better or for worse, EuroChem's final investment decision.
I've published recent updates on four greenfield nitrogen plants that hope to break ground in 2017, potentially adding 1.8 million tons of ammonia capacity in the US.
The project pipeline is long, however, and others are making progress too. This article provides updates on another four projects that, together, could add more than 4 million tons to North American ammonia capacity through 2022.
In December 2016, Louisiana DEQ issued final air permits for the brownfield project at Pollock, LA, and disclosed significant new details about TopChem's proposed 500,000 ton per year ammonia plant.
AM Agrigen has had its air permit extended for another year (unlike one other proposed greenfield) but, in its application, disclosed a completely different plan for the project.
For over a year, I've been commenting on the creativity that ammonia project developers have been forced to display, in order to demonstrate a viable business model.
The remaining pipeline of potential new ammonia plants has shifted away from brand-new, multi-billion dollar, world-scale plants producing multiple end products; these demonstrated good efficiencies of scale but became - evidently - almost unfundable.
Now the focus is on developing smaller ammonia plants, using diverse feedstocks, and avoiding as much new machinery as possible.
TopChem Pollock is still working on its ammonia plant restart in Louisiana. However, the air permit process is slowing things down for them, despite their expedited application.
CF Industries today announced that its Donaldsonville ammonia plant is now operational.
This new ammonia plant is about six months late and perhaps 10% over budget, which is hundreds of millions of dollars, as I explain in my Research Note for Donaldsonville, LA.
Incitec Pivot announced this morning the "completion of performance testing and handover" of its new brownfield ammonia plant at Waggaman, LA.
So what was the last big new natural gas ammonia plant in the US?
The Louisiana governor joined Incitec Pivot and Dyno Nobel last week for a "dedication event" for the new ammonia plant at Waggaman, LA. The festivities included a ribbon-cutting and the unveiling of a ceremonial plaque, despite the fact that the plant is not quite finished with its commissioning process.
Dyno Nobel's Australian parent, Incitec Pivot, published a Market Update at the end of August 2016, with news of good progress at its $850 million brownfield ammonia plant.
They are "deep into [the] commissioning phase" now, with "performance testing expected in September."
It's refreshing to write an update for a plant where construction is on schedule and on budget, which appears to be the case at Dyno Nobel's ammonia brownfield at Waggaman, LA.
Recently, we've seen delays, cost-overruns, and lawsuits aplenty for projects like US Nitrogen at Greenville, TN, OCI at Wever, IA, and LSB Industries at El Dorado, AR.
But Dyno Nobel's parent company, Incitec Pivot, described progress quite differently during this week's earnings call:
Investimus Foris has yet to make any announcements about its ammonia plant retrofit at Pollock, LA, but it has clearly made significant progress over the last few months.
The Lithuanian company established its US operating subsidiary, TopChem Pollock LLC, in October 2015. It assumed ownership of the plant site in December 2015, inheriting the unpaid environmental permitting fees of the previous owners. And it submitted its air permit application to LDEQ in March 2016.
In a move that might appear contrary to its "Disciplined Approach" of "Matching Supply to Demand," PotashCorp is quietly planning a potential new urea plant at Geismar.
More details of the brownfield project, which received its air permit in December 2015, are in my Research Note for Geismar, LA. The new urea plant is an addition to PotashCorp's existing plans for a major ammonia expansion.
EuroChem's Louisiana greenfield looks like it's becoming a big project - much bigger than previously disclosed.
Capex: more than $3.5 billion.
Construction schedule: to start 2016, rolling through 2022.
Annual capacity: ultimately, more than 3.5 million metric tons of product.
If all its plans are realized, this will become one of the biggest nitrogen plants in North America, second only to CF Industries' Donaldsonville complex, by ammonia capacity.
PotashCorp has "successfully completed" the ammonia expansion at Lima, OH.
They "brought production back online" in October, after a 7-week turnaround that started in August, according to their Q3 2015 earnings call last week.
PotashCorp's accompanying Q3 2015 presentation described the Lima project as ...
EuroChem is working on its air permit and has started submitting documents to Louisiana DEQ - which means we now have confirmation of the proposed size and scope of the plant.
Yes, this is another world-scale greenfield.
No, it's not just ammonia and urea, as previously announced. We also have another major UAN plant on the drawing boards.
Full details and links in my Research Note for EuroChem's greenfield in Edgard, LA.
UPDATED: 04/01/2017 — see Change Log
OWNER: TopChem Pollock LLC (Investimus Foris / ICOR)
PROJECT: Brownfield ammonia plant
SUMMARY STATUS: Cancelled
In July 2015, the Louisiana governor's office announced that Lithuanian investors intended to build an ammonia plant in Pollock, by retrofitting an idled biodiesel plant. The air permit was issued in December 2016, disclosing project details. Construction was going to begin in 2017 for start-up in 2019 but, in April 2017, the project was "put on hold indefinitely."
PotashCorp is planning a major ammonia expansion at its Geismar nitrogen plant.
Although the company has made no announcements, the expansion project has already had its air permits approved by Louisiana DEQ.
Company reps tell me that the project is "in the preliminary planning stage only at this point," and has yet to receive the final investment decision.
Nevertheless ...
EuroChem announced an MOU for the engineering, procurement, and construction of their proposed ammonia-urea plant in Louisiana.
Their US greenfield is one of five projects that they plan to develop over the next ten years, all covered under this MOU: the others are in Russia (an ammonia-urea plant in Nevinnomyssk, an ammonia plant in Kingisepp, and a urea plant in Kingisepp) and Kazakhstan (an ammonia-urea plant in Zhanatas).
These expansions would give EuroChem a gross ammonia capacity of around 8 million mtpy.
Yesterday, Bloomberg published an article about EuroChem's Louisiana greenfield ammonia plant with the headline "EuroChem Shelves $1.5 Billion U.S. Plant as Sanctions Bite" ... which is misleading.
EuroChem company reps clarified via e-mail, saying that the Louisiana greenfield "remains on track with its original schedule" and suggesting that the article, which was accurate in its original Russian, suffered from "subjective interpretation by the Bloomberg translator."
Nonetheless, it was quickly picked up in the media, including Green Markets. The article quoted EuroChem CFO Andrey Ilyin:
"The decision on the project is delayed due to changes on the financial markets, namely affected access to credit resources ... The ruble's devaluation also made development of such projects more attractive in Russia."
An article in yesterday's Business Standard (New Delhi, India) is the first I've seen to get Ashwin Muthiah to acknowledge that he's the sponsor of AM Agrigen's $1.2 billion greenfield in Killona, Louisiana. (I posted this information for my members back in July 2014.)
"Muthiah confirmed there was a proposal to set up a plant in the US but declined to give details. Sources close to the company said the move was an attempt by the MA Chidambaram group scion to chart a new and distinct course for the group he had inherited ..."
In other news: AM Agrigen now has a draft air permit ...
The debottlenecking project at Mosaic's Faustina plant, under discussion since at least January 2013, is finally moving forward - at a smaller scale than initially proposed.
Permit documents show that AM Agrigen is planning to build a world-scale urea greenfield, although the company hasn't made any public announcements regarding size.
Of all the plants now in development, only CF Industries' Donaldsonville brownfield has a bigger ammonia capacity.
The project's backers are clearly looking toward the export market, despite the argument given in permit documents, which stress the US's status as an importer of urea as the main reason why another urea plant needs to be built here ...
In May 2014, Bobby Jindal's office announced that AM Agrigen had selected a site in St Charles Parish for a $1.2 billion ammonia-urea greenfield ... full details are now at the Killona, LA - AM Agrigen project page.
AM Agrigen's plant is the 30th new ammonia plant to have been in development in North America since early 2012 ...
Here is a company with no history, building a plant of unknown size, with a blank page for a website. It made no sense until I realized who was promoting the project - about which site members can read in my Research Note ...
UPDATED: 10/16/2017 — see Change Log
OWNER: AM Agrigen Industries
PROJECT: Greenfield ammonia-urea plant
SUMMARY STATUS: Planning Phase
Greenfield ammonia plant: in development since 2012, permits approved in 2015, delayed, then completely redesigned in 2016. Now awaiting EPC announcement and revised budget and schedule. AM Agrigen has made no public announcements but permit documents reveal changing scale and technology licensors.