Kuwait’s PIC closes urea plant permanently

LONDON (ICIS)–Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) closed its 1.1m tonne/year urea fertilizer plant on 30 June, according to an official at the Kuwaiti producer on Wednesday.

The plant was going to shut in December 2017 but the closure was delayed until the end of March.

However, the closure was once again delayed to the end of June as gas supply from the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) was made available for a few more months.

The closure is due to the company diverting focus to the expansion of its olefins and aromatics operations.

Sources have said that PIC may still have a granular urea cargo available for shipment from Kuwait this month, which is likely to be from stocks and as the plant is still in the process of decommissioning.

In Bahrain, Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) will continue to operate its 650,000 tonne/year granular urea facility in Sitra as normal.

GPIC on Wednesday said it sold 40,000 tonnes of granular urea at $282/tonne FOB (free on board) to Latin America. No other details were available.

PIC will continue to market urea and ammonia for GPIC.