SIOUX CITY, Iowa, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire/ --
Terra Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRA) announced today that most of its North
American facilities have been idled as it did not commit to purchase January
natural gas for product manufacturing at its Blytheville, Ark.; Beaumont,
Tex.; Woodward, Okla.; and Port Neal, Iowa, facilities. In addition, Terra
idled one of the two sets of ammonia and upgrading plants at its Verdigris,
Okla. facility. These idled facilities represent 66%, 60%, 76% and 100% of
Terra's North American ammonia, UAN, urea and methanol manufacturing capacity,
respectively. The facilities will restart when natural gas, nitrogen products
and/or methanol prices reach levels allowing positive cash flows from the
facilities.
Michael L. Bennett, Terra's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer, said, "While nitrogen fertilizer and methanol prices have increased
significantly, we cannot generate positive cash flow from most of our North
American plants at current natural gas prices of nearly $10 per million
British thermal unit. We are keeping all of our facilities staffed so that we
can resume production quickly as we believe warmer weather will likely cause a
significant natural gas price decrease."
Information contained in this release, other than historical information,
may be considered forward-looking. Forward-looking information reflects
management's current views of future events and financial performance that
involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the
following: changes in financial markets, general economic conditions within
the agricultural industry, competitive factors and price changes (principally,
selling prices of nitrogen and methanol products and natural gas costs),
changes in product mix, changes in the seasonality of demand patterns, changes
in weather conditions, changes in agricultural regulations and other risks
detailed in the "Factors That Affect Operating Results" section of Terra's
current annual report.
Terra Industries Inc., with 1999 revenues of $775 million from continuing
operations, is a leading international producer of nitrogen products and
methanol.
Note: Terra Industries' news announcements are also available on its web
site, http://www.terraindustries.com and by fax at no charge by calling
800-758-5804, code 437906.
SOURCE Terra Industries Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.terraindustries.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/437906.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 437906
CONTACT:
Mark Rosenbury of Terra Industries Inc.,
712-279-8756
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