Oklahoma Has Strong First Quarter for Chemical Industry Project Starts

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With less than 40 major plants in the Chemical Processing Industry (CPI), which employs approximately 2,700 people, Oklahoma has a fairly small chemicals industry. In the first three months of this year, however, the state has $210 million of scheduled CPI project starts, making it third in the nation for the value of new project starts during the quarter. Only Louisiana and Ohio have a greater investment value of scheduled CPI project starts during this time.

The largest CPI project in the state is the $180 million addition to Terra Industries Incorporated's (NYSE:TRA) (Sioux City, Iowa) urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) unit in Woodward, Oklahoma. Newly installed process and support equipment will increase the plant's capacity of UAN from 300,000 to 825,000 tons per year. Construction kicked off in February of this year, and the project is expected to be complete by the end of 2010.

Another project recently tracked by Industrial Info involves the restart of a previously idled fertilizer plant in Pryor, Oklahoma. LSB Industries Incorporated (NYSE:LXU) (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is performing major inspections, repairs and equipment replacements at the plant. "We expect to start production at the Pryor facility during the third quarter of 2009," said LSB's Chairman and CEO, Jack Golsen, in a company press release. "If the Pryor Facility becomes operational, we plan to produce and sell approximately 325,000 tons of urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer and approximately 35,000 tons of anhydrous ammonia annually." Golsen added that the company is already in talks with "several large strategic industry customers" regarding the sales and distribution of the UAN production.

Despite this spectacular start to 2009, the remaining three quarters of the year remains fairly low in regard to CPI project starts. From April through December, only seven projects with a total investment value of $21 million are scheduled for the state. The majority of these are routine maintenance turnarounds. Industrial Info previously reported that neighboring state Arkansas was also experiencing a higher level of CPI spending in 2009. For details see February 25, 2009, article - Chemical Project Activity in Arkansas Remains Constant So Far. For the year, of course, CPI projects in nearby Texas and Louisiana dwarf those of Arkansas and Oklahoma, but the increased investment could mean the start of a stronger presence of the Chemical Processing Industry for the two states.

Information on these and other projects in the CPI industry can be found in Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database.

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