New nitrogen in the east

摘要

While there has been a slowdown in nitrogen capacity building in the Middle East, and India has found it hard to get new plants started, there are still some bright spots for new construction. North America has grabbed many of the headlines, with a plethora of new projects on the back of cheap shale gas availability, alongside ready-made domestic demand, but Central Asia and Russia are also seeing major new investment. Integer Research calculates that nearly 3 million t/a of ammonia capacity expansion projects are expected to come on stream in Russia in the period 2016-2019, including EuroChem's new nitrogen plants at Kingisepp and Nevinnomysk, and a new ammonia plant for PhosAgro at Cherepovets. JSC Acron is also building ammonia capacity due to start up in 2016. The continued depreciation of the rouble continues to make capacity expansion plans look globally competitive even at a time of overcapacity and low product prices.