Urea Makers to Quit Using Gas as Feedstock
Year:2010 ISSUE:6
COLUMN:AGROCHEMICALS
Click:344    DateTime:Nov.02,2010
Urea Makers to Quit Using Gas as Feedstock    

Given the serious supply deficit of natural gas in the winter of 2009, some urea makers that use natural gas as feedstock decided to seek other raw materials.
   The gas based urea makers have blamed the short of natural gas for many years. Nearly every gas based ammonia maker has ever suffered off-line because the gas supply has been stopped for one month even four straight months. Of course, the synthetic ammonia factories of CNPC or Sinopec Group and CNOOC have never worried about the gas supply.
   In China, the government must at first ensure the civil use of natural gas. The production reduction of gas based urea makers can be easily offset by the coal base ammonia makers, on the base of overcapacity in the whole sector.  
   The gas based urea makers like Cangzhou Dahua Co., Ltd., Sichuan Chemical Co., Ltd., Yunnan Yuntianhua Co., Ltd. and Guizhou Chitianhua Co., Ltd. have maintained a capacity utilization rate between 50% and 70% in recent years.
   Guizhou Chitianhua Co., Ltd. announced on February 25th, 2010 to raise fund in order to develop coal chemical production and renovate its gas based urea unit to a coal based unit. Yunnan Yuntianhua Co., Ltd. and Zhongyuan Dahua Co., Ltd. both have plans of changing raw material.