Great Plains Synfuels Plant, North Of Beulah, To Add New Product Line: Urea, For Fertilizer

Updates

August 2018: Great Plains Synfuels Plant -- pretty much "dead."

More than 300 Basin Electric Power Cooperative employees will take buyouts as the utility aims to cut costs amid a plummeting financial outlook.

Basin’s latest financial forecast predicts a decade of losses at the cooperative’s subsidiary Dakota Gasification Co., operator of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, said spokesman Curt Pearson. Basin CEO Paul Sukut was not available for comment.

The move to cut more costs follows several years of losses at DGC as it struggles to compete with cheap natural gas made available by hydraulic fracturing in the Bakken oil field. The plant suffered $212.4 million in net losses over the past three years — $87.2 million in 2017, $94.1 million in 2016 and $31.1 million in 2015, according to the cooperative’s annual reports. The plant also suffered $11 million in losses in 2013.

July 6, 2016: wind heavily damages this $500 million project.
 

Original Post

 

Regular readers know that I can never keep track of the various energy industries in North Dakota, who owns what, who does what, so before I post the link to the newest story regarding Synfuels, I need to look at the following sites and information:

Dakota Gasification Company website: 

Basin Elecric Power Cooperatiave (Basin Electric), through its for-profit subsidiary, Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas), owns and operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant (Synfuels Plant). The Synfuels Plant is the only commercial-scale coal gasification plant in the United States that manufactures natural gas. It is also the cleanest energy plant operating in the state of North Dakota, according to a comparison of emissions data available from the North Dakota Department of Health.

157-foot tower for new anhydrous ammonia facility arrives.

The plant: The Synfuels Plant supplies carbon dioxide to the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project in the world in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dakota Gas currently captures between 2.5 and 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Now the story today: PrairieBusiness is reporting that the plant will add a new product line - urea.

A synthetic natural gas producer plans to produce urea at its facility.

Dakota Gasification Co. approved the $402 million project at Great Plains Synfuels Plant north of Beulah on Monday, according to a news release.

Urea, which is a granular fertilizer used in agricultural applications, is the 10th product the facility will produce.