Magazine: Nitrogen+Syngas

Three leading regional fertilizer producers have come together to create the Southeast Asia Fertilizer Association (SEAFA). The new association formally announced its formation at an industry conference in Bali on 1 April 2026. The founding members are Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) of Indonesia, Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad of Malaysia, and Brunei Fertilizer Industries (BFI) of Brunei Darussalam. Under the founding agreement, Brunei Darussalam will host the association’s secretariat. Pupuk Indonesia has been appointed to provide SEAFA’s first chairman, President Director of Pupuk Indonesia Rahmad Pribadi, with Petronas Chemicals Group providing a co-chair. The chairmanship will rotate annually between the association’s members.

Indian renewable energy developer InSolare Energy, in consortium with SCC Infrastructure, says that it has signed Green Ammonia Purchase Agreements (GAPA) with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the supply of 85,000 t/a of green ammonia under India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission 13 April. The agreements, executed through two separate special purpose vehicles, involve a total estimated investment of around $400 million, InSolare said in a statement.

Chinese companies Sungrow Hydrogen and CRRC Zhuzhou say that they have secured electrolyser supply contracts for the first phase of a geothermal-powered hydrogen and ammonia project in Olkaria, Kenya, developed by Chinese firm Kaishan Group. Kaishan signed a steam supply agreement with state utility KenGen in October 2025, under which KenGen will supply steam from existing geothermal wells for Kaishan to generate 165MW of electricity to power the electrolysers. Chinese firm Wuhuan Engineering is serving as engineering, procurement and construction contractor. Works on the site began in November 2025.

Global ammonia benchmarks pushed to fresh highs in April, with a reported trade from Egypt to NW Europe at $905/t c.fr, marking the highest Atlantic level seen since the Middle East conflict began. The move was driven primarily by tightening North African supply, with Algerian offer levels climbing to $840-850/t f.o.b., and Egyptian availability constrained by EBIC being sold out through June, together with limited prompt tonnage from Abu Qir.

US and Israeli air attacks on Iran have hit a methanol production complex at Dayyer port in Iran’s Bushehr province, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The agency reported that two projectiles struck the pier of the Kaveh Petrochemical methanol facility in the Dayyer area, causing damage to the pier’s control room. Initial reports indicated that no damage was caused to the methanol production facilities and that the main units of the complex continued operating without disruption. No casualties were reported in the attack, the agency added.

Bahrain’s Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) says that its ammonia, urea and methanol plants remain offline following an Iranian drone attack and subsequent fire at the site. No injuries were reported from the ⁠incident.

Swedish e-fuel developer Liquid Wind and Finnish energy company Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto (TSE) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of a green methanol plant at Naantali, Finland. The facility is planned to be adjacent to TSE’s local power plant, Naantali 4, which will deliver biogenic CO 2 and steam for the production of methanol. Process and waste heat will be used for district heating, reducing the share of incineration-based district heat production by TSE. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce 100,000 t/a of green methanol made from green hydrogen and biogenic CO 2 . The final investment decision (FID) is planned for 2026, and the facility is expected to be operational in 2029.

Linde Engineering has been appointed to lead the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the WAH2 blue ammonia plant in Western Australia. This plant is expected to produce around 650,000 t/a of low carbon ammonia using natural gas feedstock and carbon capture technology. Project partner NH3 Clean Energy says that the project’s aim is not only to produce clean ammonia but to ship it as a greener commodity to Asian markets, aligning with global decarbonisation efforts, particularly for countries like Japan and South Korea that are in search of low-carbon fuel sources.

Perpetual Next has selected Bilfinger Engineering & Consultancy as lead consultant for its Methanol Moerdijk project, a planned biomethanol facility in the Port of Moerdijk, the Netherlands. The appointment covers environmental impact assessment and permitting support for the development of the project. Under the agreement, Bilfinger will support Methanol Moerdijk BV with key permitting activities, including the environmental impact assessment (MER/ EIA), support for environmental and nature permits, stakeholder and authority coordination, and project management and quality assurance. The Methanol Moerdijk project is being developed as a large-scale biomethanol facility intended to convert approximately 313,000 t/a of biologically-derived carbon into around 216,000 t/a of biomethanol.

Saipem has been awarded a new urea license agreement by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) for a new fertilizer plant in Turkmenistan. The contract entails the license for the use of Saipem’s proprietary Snamprogetti™ urea technology as well as related engineering services. The urea plant will have a capacity of 3,500 t/d. The new project follows the Garabogazkarbamid plant, commissioned in 2018 in Garabogaz, Turkmenistan, developed with the participation of Mitsubishi and Gap Insaat Yatirim ve Dis Ticaret AS, for which Saipem supplied the urea technology under a contract awarded in 2014 by MHI.