More Egyptian urea production offline: Update

Adds Abu Qir's plant closure

Egyptian fertilizer firms Kima and Helwan stopped granular urea production today, citing gas shortages, while Abu Qir has halted prilled urea output.

Kima's 570,000 t/yr and Helwan's 650,000 t/yr granular urea plants are both offline, having operated at 80pc of capacity since 2 July. Abu Qir's 578,000 t/yr prilled urea plant has also gone off line.

It is unclear when the plants will restart, the producers said. Kima's plant is in Aswan and Helwan's is in El-Tebbin-Helwan, while Abu Qir's facility is outside of the port of the same name.

Most of the country's remaining urea plants are still operating at 80pc. Mopco is running only two of its three granular urea plants at 80pc, while EFC's production status has yet to be confirmed.

A gas supply crunch in Egypt has hampered urea production since 20 May, as the country prioritised gas deliveries to power plants to meet summer cooling demand. But LNG imports eased the balance at the beginning of July. Egypt fixed at least 17 LNG cargoes in a 25 June tender — seven for July, six for August and four for September.

The country is seeking to bolster LNG import capacity as gas production falls and domestic demand rises.

Urea export offers have yet to emerge as all producers are assessing the market and the majority are likely to initially focus on delivering previously committed volumes for export and to meet local demand. But Argus understands that some traders were offered Egyptian granular urea at $380-390/t fob for loading in late July and early August. No deal has emerged yet.

By Dana Hjeij and Harry Minihan