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You can unsubscribe from these updates at any time. We manage your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy.Indian fertilizer producer Fact has awarded its 28 May tender for 7,500t of ammonia at $314/t cfr, $9/t higher than the price at which it bought a similar cargo in April.
The tender was awarded to trading company Trammo. The shipment is requested for delivery to Kochi from 21-25 June.
Fact received two offers under the tender, with trading company CIFC offering higher at $319/t cfr.
Prices in India were last assessed by Argus at $285-314/t cfr.
London, 7 May (Argus) — Indian fertilizer importer Hindalco has bought 45,000t of Jordanian DAP at $719.50/t cfr from a trading firm. The cargo will ship from Aqaba in early June, destined for India's west coast. The price is almost $20/t higher than Saudi Arabian producer Ma'aden's sale of 50,000t of DAP each to Indian importers Indian Potash (IPL) and Coromandel (CIL), reported earlier this week . There are no days of credit included in the concluded price. The trading firm probably bought the cargo at around $696/t fob for loading at the end of this month. By Tom Hampson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Houston, 5 May (Argus) — Multiple North American proposals to make hydrogen from natural gas with carbon capture have taken a pause as tariffs add to cost uncertainties and potential buyers balk at making long-term commitments at current prices. Dow has iced its Path2Zero ethylene plant in Alberta that is to use low-carbon hydrogen supplied by Linde. Air Products has delayed the start-up of a hydrogen and ammonia plant in Louisiana. And US nitrogen fertilizer producer LSB Industries said it is [pausing development] of an ammonia project on the Houston Ship Channel in Texas. Lower-carbon hydrogen produced from autothermal reforming with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is still expected to lead the nascent sector's development, with renewable-powered production seen as too costly for general takeoff. Most large-scale low-carbon hydrogen projects in the US have focused on exports in the form of ammonia or methanol to Asia and Europe, where governments have promised more support to implement decarbonization mandates. Long-term offtake agreements have so far lagged as regulatory uncertainty, cost concerns and now the added threat of US import tariffs muddle demand perspectives. "Demand has certainly ramped up slower than expected," said LSB chief executive Mark Behrman in an interview with Argus . "In the conversations that we've had with many offtakers in Asia and Europe, and even here domestically, there's been a lack of willingness to commit at the prices that we were able to talk about based on our capital costs," said Behrman, who also cited uncertainty around tariffs as a complicating factor. For long-term supply contracts, buyers were seeking prices below $600/metric tonne fob, said Behrman. LSB partnered with industrial gas firm Air Liquide, Japanese oil company Inpex and Vopak to build the 1.1mn t/yr ammonia facility in Texas. Air Liquide would supply the project with low-carbon hydrogen. The project's costs were largely calculated using 45Q tax credits that are awarded to companies using CCS to reduce emissions. But the release of 45V guidelines in January seemed to offer the possibility of accessing the more lucrative hydrogen production incentive because of a new section pertaining to cryogenic separation, a process that captures carbon dioxide from industrial gas streams, said LSB vice-president of clean energy, Jakob Krummenacher, while speaking at Argus' recent Green Ammonia North America conference in Houston. Cryogenic separation generates more steam than conventional solvent absorption and, if that steam is exported to another process, it may lower the carbon intensity of the resulting hydrogen to such an extent that the project could potentially qualify for 45V, Krummenacher said. As a result, many of the assumptions baked into the engineering studies related to the Houston ammonia venture have to go back to the drawing board. Air Liquide did not respond to requests for comment. If Air Liquide can avail itself of 45V, capital costs may decline and result in more competitive offers to the market. But Berhman cautioned against concluding the project will resume if it is found to qualify for 45V. "We still need a customer to move forward," Behrman said. Dow, which planned to build a hydrogen-fueled ethylene cracker at a petrochemical complex northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, paused its multibillion-dollar project citing uncertainty around US tariffs and the potential for retaliatory tariffs by US trading partners. Linde, which announced last year it would invest $2bn to build a low-carbon hydrogen facility to supply Dow's Path2Zero project, has not responded to questions about what Dow's pause means for its plans in Alberta. Linde has said it was working with Dow to them meet their goals while maintaining Linde's interest in the project. Air Products, meanwhile, further pushed back its $7bn Louisiana low-carbon hydrogen plant to late 2028 or early 2029 as it seeks to control costs by delegating CCS operations and ammonia production to partners. There have been some exceptions to the delays. Early last month, fertilizer producer CF Industries said it was moving ahead on a $4bn ammonia venture with Japan's Jera and investment firm Mitsui at its Blue Point complex in Louisiana. LSB similarly said it is forging ahead with plans to produce low-carbon ammonia at its existing plant in El Dorado, Arkansas, where it will decarbonize production by adding a CCS facility that will be operated by Lapis Carbon Solutions. "We're still big believers in global decarbonization," Behrman said. "I believe that new demand for power generation, power supply, and of course, the marine industry will evolve. I just think it's going to take longer than what everyone initially thought." By Jasmina Kelemen Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Paris, 30 April (Argus) — Brazil's electricity regulation agency Aneel has rejected requests for electricity grid connections filed by two renewable hydrogen projects in the northeast of the country — but the decision can be reverted, according to one of the companies. Spanish project developer Solatio, which is planning a renewable ammonia project in the state of Piaui, had its request for a grid connection rejected by Aneel in a resolution published last week. In March, Solatio received approval from Brazil's industry minister to build a 3GW electrolyser facility at the Parnaiba Export Processing Zone, with operations expected to start in early 2029. The firm had previously said it aims to achieve over 11GW of electrolyser capacity in Piaui in the long run. Aneel's decision to reject access to the grid was based on recommendations made by Brazil's grid operator ONS, which found the grid connection request to not be feasible as it "could result in overload and risks of voltage collapse". In the technical note, Aneel said that this decision "does not constitute a sanction or opposition to the investment itself". Instead it is a reflection of the "current technical limitations" of the power system. The regulator expects that "in the near future, structural works capable of safely serving large loads in the northeast will be proposed and granted". Brazil's energy ministry has already requested energy planning body EPE an expansion of 4GW of capacity in the northeast grid to accommodate demand from renewable hydrogen projects in the coming years. Solatio has already submitted a "new technical solution" that was designed with support of the Piaui government and state investment promotion agency Invest Piaui and that it could be approved soon, the developer told Argus . Earlier this month, renewables firm Casa dos Ventos also had a grid connection request rejected for its 900,000 t/yr renewable ammonia project planned at the Pecem port complex, in Brazil's Ceara state. Output from the Iracema project could supply TotalEnergies , which is a shareholder in Casa dos Ventos. Casa dos Ventos' request included a grid link to power a data centre project, which was refused by Aneel too. Aneel has asked ONS to provide "the set of technical information" for its recommendation and increase transparency on its assessments. Casa dos Ventos was not immediately available to comment. Hydrogen industry participants in Brazil have grown increasingly concerned about power grid bottlenecks. Even though the government has approved plans to expand grid capacity across the country, the sector worries that this could come too late for projects that hope to be early beneficiaries of Brazil's tax credit scheme unless the procedures are sped up. By Pamela Machado Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Kingston, 29 April (Argus) — Major LNG exporter Trinidad and Tobago's new government wants to open discussions with the administration of US president Donald Trump on access to natural gas fields on the border with Venezuela. United National Congress (UNC) party leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be the new prime minister of the Caribbean state of 1.5mn people after the party won Monday's general election, ending 10 years of administration by the People's National Congress (PNC) party of Stuart Young. The UNC won 26 seats in the 41-member assembly. "We will work with the Trump administration to see how the discussions with the Venezuelan government on the cross-border gas fields can be reopened," the UNC's energy spokesman David Lee said. Lee is expected to be appointed the energy minister. "We do not have any closed doors on this matter," Lee said. "We will directly engage the US so it will be confident in working with us on resolving our cross-border issues." Trinidad and Tobago's gas-short economy was set back earlier this month by the Trump government's revocation of licenses granted by the administration of former US president Joe Biden to Trinidad. The waivers exempted certain work to develop two gas fields that straddle the maritime border with Venezuela from US sanctions. Access to the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina gas fields is "vital" to reversing Trinidad's fall in gas production, Young said. Trinidad has been struggling to recover natural gas flow since November 2017, following a long slide from a peak of 4.3 Bcf/d in 2010. Gas output in 2024 was 2.53 Bcf/d, and the fall in output suppressed LNG, petrochemical and fertilizer production. Trinidad's 2024 LNG production of 16.7mn m³ was down by 4.6pc on 2023, according to the latest energy ministry data. The 11.8mn t/yr Atlantic liquefaction plant in southwestern Trinidad, which is majority owned by Shell and BP, is Trinidad's sole LNG producer. Crude production has also declined, moving from a peak of 144,400 b/d in 2005 to 50,854 b/d in 2024, according to the energy ministry. The decline in crude feedstock contributed to the 2018 shutdown of the state-owned 160,000 b/d Guaracara refinery. Young's administration failed at several attempts to engage foreign investors to reopen the plant. The government last month selected Nigerian privately owned oil and gas company Oando to lease and operate the refinery. But the incoming UNC administration will terminate negotiations with Oando to reopen the refinery and will seek new investors for the plant, the party said. By Canute James Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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