The U.S. Apache Corporation (Apache Corp) (APA) said the company had acquired the Australian ammonium nitrate producer Burrup Holdings Ltd’s 65% shares from the ANZ (Australia & New Zealand Banking Corp), and planned to build a technical ammonium nitrate plant in the western of Australia, but did not disclose the specific amount of the transaction. Apache said it was also negotiating with the mining explosive maker Orica Ltd over the sale of majority shares in the plant.
The Burrup Fertilisers plant cost 700 million Australian dollars. Since 2006 it had been put into production, Apache has been supplying natural gas to the company. The plant’s annual output of ammonium nitrate reaches 760,000 tons. which accounts for the 6% of the global output.