US producer CF Industries restarting UK ammonia plant

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US producer CF Industries has announced it is immediately restarting the ammonia plant at its Billingham, UK, complex.

The restart follows an interim agreement reached today to cover the costs to restart the ammonia plant and produce CO2 for the UK market.

Earlier this month, CF halted operations at both its Billingham and Ince, UK, manufacturing complexes due to high natural gas prices. The operations primarily manufacture ammonia and ammonium nitrate volumes.

“We want to thank The Honorable Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and his entire staff for working tirelessly to bring about this agreement enabling restart of the plant and averting a potential CO2 supply disruption impacting many industries, including food and beverage availability to UK consumers,” said Tony Will, CF Industries president and CEO.

“We look forward to working with Secretary Kwarteng and the UK government on developing a longer-term solution, including the development of alternative suppliers of CO2 for the UK market.”

CO2 is a byproduct of the ammonia production process with the producer noting that a safe restart process of the ammonia plant at the Billingham complex is expected to take several days.

Thumbnail shows an ammonia tank. Photo by Charlie Riedel/AP/Shutterstock