Nutrien permanently shuts Trinidad Nitrogen operations due to gas supply issues

Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien has announced the permanent closure of its Trinidad Nitrogen operations due to persistent natural gas supply issues and a dispute with the island’s state-owned gas supplier. The decision comes after the Point Lisas facility was initially shut down in October 2025, with Nutrien citing port access restrictions and an unreliable natural gas supply that severely impacted profitability.

The Trinidad facility, consisting of four plants, historically produced up to 85,000 tonnes of anhydrous ammonia and 55,000 tonnes of urea per month. The challenges began with gas shortages, as Trinidad’s gas supply has dropped by around 42% from peak levels, leaving plants across the island short of feedstock. By 2024, Nutrien’s local management reported that the firm only had enough gas to operate three of its four ammonia plants.

In 2025, the state-owned National Gas Company (NGC) raised port fees, claiming they had been below market rates for decades, and sought $28 million in retroactive charges dating back to 2021. Nutrien deemed the charges unilateral and unfair, demanding that future gas supply be settled first. NGC refused to link the two, restricting Nutrien’s port access and ultimately forcing the shutdown in 2025. NGC later dropped the $28 million claim and offered to reopen the port, but Nutrien determined that the underlying viability of the operations had not been addressed.

The permanent closure will reduce Nutrien’s nitrogen production and upgrade facilities to 11, all located in the US and Canada. Despite the shutdown, Nutrien assured that there would be no impact on its 2026 nitrogen sales volume guidance, as it had already factored in no production from the Trinidad operations. The facility’s gas contract expired on 1 January 2026, marking the end of operations.