Agrium has no plans to shut down Kenai plant

Company expected an extended shutdown this winter due to seasonally higher demand for home heating

Petroleum News

According to Petroleum News sources Agrium told its suppliers Oct. 12 that it was shutting down its Alaska nitrogen plant from Nov. 1 to March 1. But company spokeswoman Lisa Parker said the company has no plans to shut down this winter.

Agrium said in an Aug. 23 press release that it had successfully obtained sufficient natural gas supplies to allow for the operation of its fertilizer facility in 2007, but that it expected the plant to “experience an extended shutdown during the winter months due to seasonally higher demand for home heating.”

The facility, which is located at tidewater on the east side of the Cook Inlet on the Kenai Peninsula, ships anhydrous ammonia and urea to many parts of the world including South Korea, Mexico and Taiwan.

Some product is shipped to Alaska agricultural and industrial markets.

The facility is capable of producing 640,000 tonnes of urea and 280,000 tonnes of ammonia annually.

One hundred and fifty people are employed at the Kenai plant.

In its August press release Agrium said, the Alaska “facility is expected to operate at about 75 percent of capacity over the next 12 months, operating one ammonia and one urea plant.”