UPDATED: 11/09/2017 — see Change Log

OWNER: CF Industries
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): None given
JOB CREATION (reported): 150 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE (reported): 1977

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	435,000 mtpy	480,000 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:
In operation since 1977, the Woodward plant is one of only two ammonia plants worldwide using process technology by Fluor. Most recently, a second UAN plant was commissioned in 2011.

COST: $70 million in 1974
JOB CREATION: 150 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE: 1977

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	435,000 mtpy	480,000 stpy GROSS 130,000 stpy NET		454,111 mtpy GROSS 122,988 mtpy NET
Urea, liquor		45,000 stpy		42,573 mtpy
UAN		810,000 stpy		766,312 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. Sources: linked below. [3] Air permit does not specify product capacities. Sources: linked below. [4] Adjusted Capacity is in metric tons per year assuming operations for 365 days per year; based on company reported capacities, adjusted from average 350 days per year assumption. See Methodology.

FEEDSTOCK: Natural gas
END PRODUCTS: Ammonia, Urea liquor / DEF, UAN

RESEARCH NOTES:
According to CF Industries’ 2016 10-K filing, the product mix at Woodward has changed: reductions of 10,000 stpy marketable ammonia and 10,000 stpy UAN allow an increase of 20,000 stpy urea.

The Woodward nitrogen complex started up in 1977 with an ammonia capacity of 1,200 stpd. In 1974, when the project was first announced, it was to cost $70 million.

Oklahoma Nitrogen Company produced the ammonia, while Bison Nitrogen Products Company produced the UAN – both companies were joint ventures between W. R. Grace & Co, Gulf Oil Chemicals Co, and Terra Chemicals International Inc. In 1988, Grace exited the fertilizer industry, and gave Terra full ownership of the Woodward complex, when it sold Terra its then 63% of Oklahoma Nitrogen and 33% of Bison Nitrogen.

In 1994, Terra spent $15.5 million to turn the facility into an integrated methanol-ammonia plant, adding 400 stpd of methanol production, and reducing the site’s ammonia capacity by ~20%, in part to hedge against the seasonality of fertilizer sales.

In 2010, CF Industries acquired Terra for $4.6 billion, beating out interest from Yara, to become the world’s second biggest nitrogen producer.

In 2011, CF sold the methanol plant, and finished building the second UAN plant, with a capacity of 500,000 stpy, which had been commissioned under Terra’s ownership at a cost of $180 million.

The Woodward ammonia plant is unusual: it is one of only two in the world to use process technology by Fluor. The other is Tringen I, now owned by Yara, in Trinidad & Tobago, which also was originally part-owned by W. R. Grace & Co and started-up in 1977.

While Fluor’s technology made it extremely simple to integrate methanol production at Woodward, the uniqueness of the design also means that plant maintenance can be more expensive and time-consuming. When explaining the repeated outages at the plant in 2014, CF’s CEO Tony Will described Woodward as follows:

“This one is a little bit of an oddity or a strange beast … the parts that go into it are dissimilar from all of our Kellogg plants. So if this has happened at one of our Kellogg ammonia plants, it would’ve been really easy to fix because we’ve got spare kit for all of the major operating components so we could have just moved the product … out of one facility into the next, plugged it in and are ready to go … But because this is an oddball, we’ve got to fix what’s there …

We don’t believe that there is any long-term issue in terms of the operability or the on-stream factor of that plant.”

View larger map with all ammonia plants.

ADDRESS: 1000 Terra Drive, Woodward, OK 73801, United States

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

REGULATORY SOURCES:

• USGS: Minerals Yearbook, Nitrogen [RECENT / ARCHIVE]
• EPA Emissions data: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities: TERRA INTERNATIONAL (OKLAHOMA) INC [LINK]
• Risk Management Plan: Right to Know Network: Terra International (Oklahoma) Inc. [LINK]
• Oklahoma DEQ: permit document search [LINK], 2013 Operating Permit [PDF]
• US Securities and Exchange Commission filings: EDGAR Search Results, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CIK#: 0001324404 [LINK]

NEWS SOURCES:

• 11/03/2017: Woodward News: CF Industries celebrates plant’s 40th year in Woodward [LINK]
• 11/06/2014: Seeking Alpha earnings call transcript: CF Industries Holdings CEO Anthony Will on Q3 2014 Results [LINK]
• 2011: Casale presentation: Woodward, OK Ammonia Converter Revamp: More Efficiency and Reliability through Innovation [PDF]
• 03/12/2010: CF Industries press release: CF Industries and Terra Industries Agree to Combine, Creating a Global Industry Leader [PDF]
• 08/08/1994: Oil & Gas Journal: NEW INTEGRATED METHANOL/NH3 PLANT STARTS UP IN WESTERN OKLAHOMA [LINK]