VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and NYSE-listed Agrium has commissioned its new urea plant at the Borger Nitrogen Operations facility, in Texas, having completed its first run of urea production – widely used in fertilisers as a source of nitrogen.

The Calgary-based company, which controls the largest retail distribution network in North America and is in the process of merging with Canadian counterpart PotashCorp of Saskatchewan to create a new $36-billion entity, said Tuesday that it continued to ramp up output and that it expected to reach full capacity by the end of the current quarter.

The new $720-million urea facility has a capacity of 610 000 t of urea, of which 100 000 t of urea equivalent will be diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), an aqueous urea solution used to lower smog-related nitrogen oxide concentrations in the diesel exhaust emissions from diesel engines.

"The successful completion of our first run of urea production from our Borger nitrogen expansion project continues to emphasise our commitment to operational excellence and creating shareholder value at Agrium. We look forward to bringing our reliable and high-quality urea and DEF products to existing and new customers in this key agricultural region of the US," stated Agrium president and CEO Chuck Magro.

According to Agrium, nitrogen represents about 60% of the total volume of crop nutrients used globally. It is also the crop nutrient for which reduced application rates within a growing season are most likely to immediately and adversely impact yield for most crops.

For Agrium, nitrogen is the most important nutrient in terms of capacity, production and sales, representing nearly 60% of its nutrient capacity.

Natural gas is the primary input for producing ammonia – the base for virtually all nitrogen products. Ammonia can be applied directly as a fertiliser, or upgraded to products such as urea, UAN [a solution of urea and ammonium nitrate in water] solutions and ammonium nitrate.

Agrium currently has global nitrogen capacity of about 5.7-million tonnes a year, placing the company among the world’s top five publicly traded nitrogen producers.