Tag: Sulphur

Meena Chauhan, Head of Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Research, Argus Media, assesses price trends and the market outlook for sulphur.

Sulphur markets suffered a correction in July-August that was more of a collapse; from $500/t to less than $100/t. Though it seems to have been something of an over-correction, and prices have moved back up since then, it is one of the most extreme price swings that sulphur has ever seen, comparable to the peak and precipitous fall in 2008. Indeed, at a time when commodity prices of all kinds have seen extremely high levels of volatility, sulphur has been more volatile still than just about all of them.

Producing efficient fertilizers that deliver nutrients directly to crops in exactly the right amounts has clear economic and environmental benefits. Recent advances in controlled-release and stabilised fertilizer technology are highlighted.

Nutrien appointed Ken Seitz as president and CEO on 8th August. He has been the company’s interim CEO since January. Mr Seitz also joined Nutrien’s board of directors from this date. His appointment as CEO followed an extensive seven-month global search for internal and external candidates led by the board and supported by a world-class executive recruitment firm.

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media

Saudi Aramco has confirmed a phased development approach for its $100 billion-plus Jafurah unconventional onshore gas project, which is expected to produce up to 2 billion cubic feet per day of gas by 2030, raising the company’s overall gas production capacity by 50% over that time frame. Aramco says that the first development phase for the Jafurah gas plant is likely to come on stream by 2025, and it is progressing with the phased development of a project that will reach a raw gas processing capacity of 3.1 bcf/d.

H.J. Baker’s chief operating officer (COO) Luis Masroua has become president of the company.

Inshan S. Mohammed of Sulfur Recovery Engineering shares lessons learned from a recent SRU shutdown assistance programme involving an error with the tags used within the BMS system installed on a direct-fired reheater.

A large portion of the oil reserves of Canada and Venezuela exist as oil sands. By the mid-2000s, production from these sources had topped 5.5 million bbl/d. But with Venezuela’s economic implosion and increasing environmental scrutiny of oil sands production, what is the future for this high sulphur fuel source?

Marco van Son and Frank Bela of Comprimo share lessons learned from SRU war stories, including: inadvertent NH3 destruction in an oxidising atmosphere, rich amine emulsion, SWS fixed valve trays, H2 spiking of SRU feed, rich amine flash drum early warning, V-ball fuel gas safety shutoff valves, TGTU methyl mercaptan, and commissioning and Murphy’s Law.