Category: Asia

India’s push to replace its sizeable urea imports with home grown capacity continues, but may not keep pace with rising domestic demand.

Yara Clean Ammonia has signed a time-charter contract with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) for an ammonia-fuelled medium gas carrier, to be delivered in November 2026. Medium gas carriers are the most popular type of vessel for international shipping of ammonia, and Yara and NYK have been studying the possibilities of running them off ammonia fuel since 2021. Yara Clean Ammonia operates the largest global ammonia network with 15 ships and has, through Yara, access to 18 ammonia terminals and multiple ammonia production and consumption sites across the world. Yara says that use of an AFMGC will contribute to reducing GHG emissions from marine transportation and developing an ammonia supply chain by providing a more environment-friendly means of ammonia transport as demand grows for ammonia use in the power sector, for marine fuel, and the like.

In her Indian 2025-26 budget presentation on February 1st, finance minster Nirmala Sitharaman announced a $1.15 billion investment to build a new 1.27 million t/a ammonia-urea complex at Namrup in Assam province. The plant will be a brownfield development at the Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation Ltd (BVFCL) site. Sitharaman said that it was part of the Indian government’s commitment to strengthening agricultural infrastructure and self-sufficiency in fertilizer production. The gas-based ammonia-urea plant is expected to start up in 2028-29 and will supply farmers in northeast and eastern India.

PT Pupuk Kujang, a subsidiary of state-owned fertilizer producer holding company PT Pupuk Indonesia, is conducting a trial production of green ammonia projected to replace coal in the power generation industry. In local press reports, Robert Sarjaka, Director of Operations and Production of Pupuk Kujang, said that the production of green ammonia is part of the company’s efforts to contribute to realizing the energy transition in Indonesia, namely making Pupuk Kujang the first company to produce green ammonia in the country. Pupuk Kujang receives green hydrogen from renewable power supplied by PLN Indonesia Power (PLN IP), part of state power utility PT PLN. In the first trial phase, Pupuk Kujang will process 1 t/d of green hydrogen into 5 t/d of green ammonia.

NextChem subsidiary Stamicarbon has been selected to provide the process design package to upgrade the Hulunbuir New Gold Chemical Co., Ltd.’s urea plant in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, using its proprietary NX STAMI UreaTM technology. The upgrade will integrate Stamicarbon’s EVOLVE MELT MP flash design to enhance operational efficiency and reliability while minimizing process steam consumption. Following the upgrade, the plant’s capacity will be increased by about 26% to 3,600 t/d, with an expected high-pressure steam reduction of 15%.

Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (PPL) says that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Odisha state to invest $440 million over five years to increase its phosphate fertilizer production and export capacity, including port/ jetty and infrastructure development. PPL currently has capacity to produce 400,000 t/a of urea and 2.6 million t/a of finished phosphates, via DAP and NPK plants in Paradeep, Odisha, and Zuarinagar, Goa. Details of the expansion were not announced, but the company previously said in December 2024 that it had agreed to expand phosphoric acid capacity from 500,000 t/a to 700,000 t/a to increase backwards integration of production and reduce dependence on imports.

Topsoe has been selected by Guangxi Free Trade Zone Chuangui Lingang New Energy Co., Ltd to deliver technology and services to produce sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and renewable diesel.

Chevron says that its 50% owned affiliate Tengizchevroil LLP (TCO) has started oil production at its Future Growth Project (FGP) located at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan. FGP is the third processing plant in operation at the Tengiz oil field, which expands sour gas injection capability and is expected to ramp up output to 1 million bbl/d. This milestone follows the completion of the Wellhead Pressure Management Project (WPMP) in 2024, which is designed to optimise the field and processing plants. The FGP expansion aims to increase crude oil production by 260,000 bbl/d at full capacity.

Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining (PASAR) has put its plant on Leyte Island into care and maintenance to evaluate the operation amid what it termed as increasingly challenging market conditions.

The Chinese government has issued a development plan for the country’s copper smelting industry covering the years 202527 which is looking to reduce the level of overcapacity in the sector. New copper smelters must now control sufficient copper mine supply via ownership or equity stakes to cover their production requirements, something few smelters do at present. Chinese smelter output has reached record levels, with treatment charges falling to historically low levels as producers compete for copper concentrate – China imports around 85% of its copper concentrate. Meanwhile more smelter capacity is planned, with around 1 million t/a of new capacity scheduled for 2025. The country aims to boost domestic copper mine resources by 5% to 10% in three years to secure raw material supply, according to the government plan. China will also encourage copper smelters to sign long-term purchase agreements with global miners, boost imports of copper blister and anode, and encourage scrap imports.