Rentech, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTK) announced today that start-up of the
Atikokan wood pellet facility has begun. During the next few weeks, the
plant will undergo safety inspections, equipment testing and final
commissioning.
Sean Ebnet, senior vice president of Rentech’s wood fibre business,
said, “I’m pleased to reach this important milestone at the Atikokan
facility. Our Canadian team has done a superb job managing the
construction of Rentech’s first two pellet plants, through one of the
worst winters on record. We are excited about beginning operations and
bringing jobs back to these communities. The staff we have assembled at
both facilities has deep experience operating large fibre mills, and
includes the key members of the teams that ran the Atikokan and Wawa
mills when they operated as fiberboard and oriented strand board
facilities.”
The company expects the Atikokan facility to produce pellets in the
coming weeks. The existing arrangement of delivering third-party pellets
to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will be curtailed as the Atikokan
facility ramps up production. The total design capacity of the Atikokan
wood pellet facility is 100,000 tonnes. Under the terms of the long-term
contract, OPG will purchase 45,000 tonnes of pellets annually from the
Atikokan facility at the plant gate. The remaining output will be
available for sale to OPG or other customers.
Delays in equipment deliveries by certain vendors have prolonged
construction and start-up of the Canadian pellet plants. Commissioning
and start-up of the Wawa facility are expected to begin in November and
continue through the end of the year, with production to follow. The
first shipment of pellets to Drax is expected to occur in the second
quarter of 2015, in coordination with Drax’s ship schedule. All major
equipment is in place at Wawa, and certain critical items, including the
drying system, bark furnace and both log cranes, have already been
commissioned and are operational. Other than the equipment delivery
delays, construction of both projects has proceeded as planned.
About Rentech, Inc.
Rentech, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTK) owns and operates wood fibre processing,
wood pellet production and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing businesses.
Rentech offers a full range of integrated wood fibre services for
commercial and industrial customers around the world, including wood
chipping services, operations, marketing, trading and vessel loading,
through its subsidiary, Fulghum Fibres. The Company’s New England Wood
Pellet subsidiary is a leading producer of bagged wood pellets for the
U.S. heating market. Rentech manufactures and sells nitrogen fertilizer
through its publicly-traded subsidiary, Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P.
(NYSE: RNF). Please visit www.rentechinc.com
and www.rentechnitrogen.com
for more information.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about matters such as
the expected construction, commissioning, start-up, production and
delivery times for pellets from our Canadian wood pellet projects. These
statements are based on management’s current expectations and actual
results may differ materially as a result of various risks and
uncertainties. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ
from those reflected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in
the Company’s prior press releases and periodic public filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available via Rentech’s
website at www.rentechinc.com.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the
date of this press release and Rentech does not undertake to revise or
update these forward-looking statements, except to the extent that it is
required to do so under applicable law.
Copyright Business Wire 2014