Lloyd’s Register (LR) has issued the first Type Approval Certificate for a 100% hydrogen-fuelled, spark-ignited marine engine. The approval has been awarded to the hydrogen engine developed by BeHydro and confirms the design meets LR’s requirements for safety, performance and reliability in marine applications.
Yara International has reached an agreement to acquire Gulf Coast Ammonia’s (GCA) ammonia production facility in Texas City, Texas from GCA Holdings LLC, for a consideration of $ 1.3 billion. Yara says that the acquisition is part of its strategy to diversify its energy exposure and enhance the competitiveness of its global ammonia production footprint. Yara will own the ammonia plant with an expected nameplate capacity of 1.3 million t/a, with Air Products supplying industrial gases to Yara as part of a long-term supply agreement. Yara will use its midstream ammonia platform to supply both external customers and its own internal sourcing needs.
Methanex says that it has been unable to agree to a new natural gas contract for its 860,000 t/a Titan methanol plant in Trinidad and Tobago, and, as a result, will begin the process of indefinitely idling the facility. Titan’s existing natural gas contract expires in the third quarter of 2026. Methanex says that it will undertake a preservation process at the Titan plant to provide options for a future restart should conditions materially improve. The neighbouring 1/7 million t/a Atlas methanol plant, a joint venture in which Methanex holds a 63.1% economic interest, remains indefinitely idled in a preserved state.
Multiple drone strikes have hit the industrial city of Cherepovets in Russia's Vologda Oblast region, according to Russian news agency TASS. The area contains PhosAgro's largest phosphate fertilizer production site. Cherepovets has a production capacity of around 700,000 t/a NPK and around 814,000 t/year DAP/MAP, according to CRU data, making it the largest phosphate fertilizer production site across Europe and the CIS. The site also contains several sulphuric acid plants with a combined capacity of 4.5 million t/a, making it Russia's largest production hub for the acid. This entire volume is consumed domestically.
Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines stands to benefit from any sulphuric acid shortage caused by prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz now that the company is running a copper smelter, according Co-Chairman Robert Friedland. The 500,000 t/a direct-to-blister smelter at company-operated Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo produced its first anodes at the turn of the year.
The Zambian government has introduced a new permit system to manage the export of sulphuric acid, which came into effect on 27 March, 2026, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry. The move comes at a time of significant exceptionally high prices and sourcing challenges in the global sulphur market, adding another layer of tightness for regional consumers. The Ministry stated that the measure is designed to correct a "critical market imbalance" and ensure supply for the country's domestic industries. The system aims to safeguard local downstream sectors that rely on the acid, while still ensuring that the needs of the export market are met, it said.
CRU’s Phosphates+Potash Expoconference was held in Paris in mid-April, with the Iran crisis uppermost in everyone’s mind. Margins are under pressure, sulphur has become a strategic constraint, and the phosphates investment pipeline is thin. CRU Principal Consultant Humphrey Knight examined the fallout from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, noting that fertilizers have been hit harder than most bulk commodities. A large share of exportable sulphur and traded urea normally originates in, or passes through, Gulf producers. The effective closure of the strait has squeezed the traded part of these markets, where international prices are set, and pushed benchmarks up sharply. The global phosphate market is structurally tight, and the combination of Chinese export policy and Middle East logistics has pushed the traded segment into a much more fragile state.
Several battery material nickel miners in Indonesia have reportedly trimmed output by at least 10% due to a shortage of and higher prices for sulphur caused by supply disruptions arising from war in the Middle East. Sulphuric acid is used to process nickel ore into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a feedstock used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Topsoe has entered into an agreement with Texas-based sustainable fuels and chemicals technology company BioVeritas to unlock advantaged feedstocks for existing infrastructure. The agreement will enable fuel producers to license Topsoe’s HydroFlex® technology alongside the Bio-Veritas Process™ to produce renewable fuels from second-generation feedstocks, such as woody biomass, corn stover, wheat straw, and similar waste and residual biomass. The BioVeritas Process™ converts second-generation feedstocks to advantaged intermediates, called KEY-Tones™ that can be processed by Topsoe’s HydroFlex® technology to unlock production of renewable fuels using second-generation feedstock.
InfraLeuna GmbH, the owner and operator of the Leuna chemical site, has unveiled a new state-of-the-art heating terminal as part of a new central infrastructure facility established at the Leuna chemical site to address the changing demands of the chemical industry’s supply chains.