CVR Partners, LP owns, operates and grows its nitrogen fertilizer business.
The company produces nitrogen fertilizer products at two manufacturing facilities, one located in Coffeyville, Kansas operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers, LLC (CRNF) (the Coffeyville Facility) and one located in East Dubuque, Illinois operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, East Dubuque Nitrogen Fertilizers, LLC (EDNF) (the East Dubuque Facility). Both facilities manufact...
CVR Partners, LP owns, operates and grows its nitrogen fertilizer business.
The company produces nitrogen fertilizer products at two manufacturing facilities, one located in Coffeyville, Kansas operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers, LLC (CRNF) (the Coffeyville Facility) and one located in East Dubuque, Illinois operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, East Dubuque Nitrogen Fertilizers, LLC (EDNF) (the East Dubuque Facility). Both facilities manufacture ammonia and are able to further upgrade such ammonia to other nitrogen fertilizer products, principally urea ammonium nitrate (UAN). The company’s products are sold on a wholesale basis in the United States of America.
Facilities
Coffeyville Facility: The company owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer production facility in Coffeyville, Kansas that includes a gasifier complex having a capacity of 89 million standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen, a 1,300 ton per day capacity ammonia unit and a 3,100 ton per day capacity UAN unit. The Coffeyville Facility is the only nitrogen fertilizer plant in North America that utilizes a pet coke gasification process to produce nitrogen fertilizer.
East Dubuque Facility: The company owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer production facility in East Dubuque, Illinois that includes a 1,075 ton per day capacity ammonia unit and a 950 ton per day capacity UAN unit. The East Dubuque Facility has the flexibility to vary its product mix, thereby enabling it to upgrade a portion of its ammonia production into varying amounts of UAN, nitric acid, and liquid and granulated urea, depending on market demand, pricing, and storage availability. The East Dubuque Facility’s largest raw material cost used in the production of ammonia is natural gas, which is purchased from third parties.
Commodities
The nitrogen products the company produces are globally traded commodities and are subject to price competition. The customers for the company’s products make their purchasing decisions principally on the basis of delivered price and, to a lesser extent, on customer service and product quality. The selling prices of the company’s products fluctuate in response to global market conditions, feedstock costs, and changes in supply and demand.
Marketing and Distribution
The company primarily markets UAN products to agricultural customers and ammonia products to agricultural and industrial customers. UAN and ammonia, including freight, accounted for approximately 69% and 24%, respectively, of total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023. The company also utilizes a fleet of railcars for use in product delivery. If delivered by railcar, products are most commonly sold on a destination point basis, and the company typically arranges the freight.
The nitrogen fertilizer products leave the company’s Coffeyville Facility either in railcars for destinations located principally on the Union Pacific or Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads or in trucks for direct shipment to customers. The company’s East Dubuque Facility primarily sells product to customers located within 200 miles of the facility. In most instances, customers take delivery of nitrogen products at its East Dubuque Facility and arrange to transport them to their final destinations by truck. Additionally, the company’s East Dubuque Facility has direct access to a barge dock on the Mississippi River, as well as a nearby rail spur serviced by the Canadian National Railway Company, both of which are utilized occasionally to sell and distribute its products.
Customers
Retailers and distributors are the main customers for UAN, and, more broadly, the industrial and agricultural sectors are the primary recipients of the company’s ammonia products. Given the nature of the company’s business, and consistent with industry practice, it sells its products on a wholesale basis under a contract or by purchase order. Contracts with customers generally contain fixed pricing and have terms of less than one year. The company’s top two customers represented 25% of net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Competition
The company’s major domestic competitors in the nitrogen fertilizer business generally includes CF Industries Holdings, Inc., which sells significantly more nitrogen fertilizers in the United States than other industry participants; Nutrien Ltd.; Koch Fertilizer Company, LLC; OCI N.V.; and LSB Industries, Inc.
Seasonality
Because the company primarily sells agricultural commodity products, its business is exposed to seasonal fluctuations in demand for nitrogen fertilizer products in the agricultural industry. In addition, the demand for fertilizers is affected by the aggregate crop planting decisions and fertilizer application rate decisions of individual farmers who make planting decisions based largely on the prospective profitability of a harvest. The company typically experiences higher net sales in the first half of the calendar year, which is referred to as the planting season, and net sales tend to be lower during the second half of each calendar year (year ended December 31, 2023), which is referred to as the fill season.
Marketing and Distribution
The company primarily markets UAN products to agricultural customers and ammonia products to agricultural and industrial customers. UAN and ammonia, including freight, accounted for approximately 69% and 24%, respectively, of total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023.
UAN and ammonia are primarily distributed by truck or railcar. If delivered by truck, products are most commonly sold on a shipping point basis, and freight is normally arranged by the customer. The company also utilizes a fleet of railcars for use in product delivery. The nitrogen fertilizer products leave the company’s Coffeyville Facility either in railcars for destinations located principally on the Union Pacific or Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads or in trucks for direct shipment to customers. The company’s East Dubuque Facility primarily sells product to customers located within 200 miles of the facility. In most instances, customers take delivery of nitrogen products at its East Dubuque Facility and arrange to transport them to their final destinations by truck. Additionally, the company’s East Dubuque Facility has direct access to a barge dock on the Mississippi River, as well as a nearby rail spur serviced by the Canadian National Railway Company, both of which are utilized occasionally to sell and distribute its products.
Health, Safety, and Security Matters
The company is subject to a number of federal and state laws and regulations related to safety, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and comparable state statutes, the purposes of which are to protect the health and safety of workers. The company is also subject to OSHA Process Safety Management regulations, which are designed to prevent or minimize the consequences of catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive chemicals.
The company’s Facilities are subject to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), a regulatory program designed to ensure facilities have security measures in place to reduce the risk that certain hazardous chemicals are weaponized by terrorists. In addition, the East Dubuque Facility is regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act (the MTSA).
History
CVR Partners, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, was founded in 2007. The company was incorporated in 2007.