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New Zealand’s Ballance gets gas supply for urea plant

  • Mercados: Fertilizers
  • 22/01/26

New Zealand fertilizer distributor Ballance Agri-Nutrients has secured a short-term gas supply for its 260,000 t/yr Kapuni urea plant through March this year, it said today.

Ballance has required short-term gas supply for the plant since its long-term contract expired on 30 September, the company said on 22 January. The Kapuni plant relies entirely on natural gas both as a feedstock and as a fuel source for urea production, meaning rising gas prices directly increase urea manufacturing costs.

High gas prices and dwindling domestic reserves have therefore made local urea production increasingly expensive, and without a secure gas supply the Kapuni plant would be forced to shut down.

This is the second short-term gas supply agreement that Ballance has secured for the plant, and the company is seeking both short- and long-term affordable gas supply agreements, the company said.

Ballance has increased its imports of urea and other nitrogen products to ensure supply through the autumn months of March-May, in case the Kapuni plant is shut down.

New Zealand's urea imports rose to 466,500t in January-November from 460,535t a year earlier, data from Statistics New Zealand show.

Affordable and reliable gas supply remains an ongoing issue in New Zealand and will be a key policy topic in the country's upcoming election on 7 November.

Ballance did not disclose the volume or source of the latest gas supply.


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