Author: richardhands

Astron Energy, a subsidiary of Glencore, says that it will spend $328 million to upgrade its South African crude oil refinery in order to comply with the country’s upcoming cleaner fuel regulations. The investment aims to bring the facility in line with South Africa’s Clean Fuels II standards, which mandate lower sulphur content in both petrol and diesel. The 100,000 bbl/d refinery near Cape Town is one of only two remaining operational refineries in the country. Astron says that construction work is already under way for a gasoline hydrotreating plant that will reduce sulphur levels to Euro 5 (<10ppm sulphur) specifications. The regulations have been delayed to July 2027 due to concerns over the cost of upgrading existing refining infrastructure. n

Avenira has secured an A$7.56 million strategic investment from majority shareholder Hebang Biotechnology to progress its Wonarah phosphate project in Northern Territory. The investment, in which Hebang will acquire 1.08 billion shares priced at A$0.007 each, will boost its equity holding in Avenira to 49%. Hebang has also agreed to provide Avenira with an unsecured drawdown loan facility to be repaid on completion of the placement or after the date of the first drawdown.

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dr. Umberto Zardi, who passed away on March 17th 2025 at his home in Breganzona, Lugano, Switzerland. Dr Zardi was an innovator in the nitrogen industry and for many years the president and driving force behind Ammonia Casale, now simply Casale SA, becoming responsible for its revival and transformation into the global engineering and technology giant that it is today.

BASF Corporation has appointed Heather Remley as its new president and chief executive officer, effective April 1, 2025. She takes the helm of the North American arm of BASF SE, one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Remley has a background in global leadership and operations. Most recently, she was president of BASF’s global engineering services division in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Before that, she led the company’s North American petrochemicals business as senior vice president in Houston. Since joining BASF in 2016, she has held key positions across the US, China, and Germany.

Dr M.P. Sukumaran Nair, Director of the Centre for Green Technology & Management, Cochin, India and former Secretary to the Chief Minister of Kerala discusses the challenges facing India’s agriculture and fertilizer industry.

• Continuing oversupply means that ammonia prices should continue to come under pressure moving into 2H April, though it remains to be seen just how much further values in Asia can decline before producers begin to shutter output.

Methanol demand is rising again after a few years of relative stagnation, but with the Chinese MTO boom largely over, it looks to be energy uses which will drive most future demand.

Spanish company Ignis has decided to pause work on the renewable energy generation projects it had planned in Chile’s Magallanes region. In a press statement, Ignis said that: “even though we firmly believe that this industry will develop and mature, the company is considering a longer time frame than initially planned and a reduction in the project to adapt it to this new reality.” The company was developing a wind farm to supply the green ammonia plant with hydrogen, but reportedly found the process of leasing the land area to build the turbines slower and more difficult than it had hoped.

Hy2gen says that it has submitted its Courant renewable ammonia project to Quebec’s Minister of the Environment, marking the end of the planning stage. The Ministry will now define an impact study that Hy2gen must carry out to ensure that the project meets safety and environmental impact requirements. Project Courant aims to produce 230,000 t/a of low carbon ammonia for the local mining industry and region around Baie-Comeau, Quebec, using 300 MW of electrolyser capacity to generate renewable hydrogen in what Hy2gen says will be one of the largest renewable ammonia projects in North America. The plant is due to become operational in 2030.

The Port of Açu and renewable fuels company Sempen have signed a contract to reserve an area in the low-carbon hydrogen hub at the port, in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro, for the construction of a green ammonia plant. The projected facility would have a production capacity of 1 million t/a of green ammonia. A final investment decision (FID) is expected for 2027-2028, with production of the first green ammonia beginning in 2030.