Ostchem Holding is a holding company that unites a group of chemical factories and supporting companies. In its turn Ostchem is a part of bigger Group DF that unites several separate enterprises and other holding companies and is owned by Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash. On 20 December 2016 Ostchem announced about its mass layoffs.

Description

In the spring of 2011, Ostchem Holding strengthened its position in Ukraine by acquiring the right to import Central Asian gas for chemical companies. In 2011, the company bought gas in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, importing 4.8 billion cubic meters of fuel a year. But since 2012, Ostchem has been buying gas directly from

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

. Ostchem, having supplanted the state monopoly of Naftogaz Ukrainy, received special price conditions for gas supplies. In January, Naftogaz was the only importer of Russian gas to the country, including Ostchem, which bought 2.4 billion cubic meters from Gazprom. But since February 2013, the situation has changed. "Naftogaz bought in Russia only 0.4 billion cubic meters, and Ostchem - 2.4 billion, exceeding its quarterly needs. It is among world leading companies in production of

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

, and

urea Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...

. Ostchem made its mother company Group DF third biggest world producer of ammonia in the world in 2013 yielding only to Norwegian

Yara International Yara International ASA is a Norwegian chemical company. It produces, distributes, and sells nitrogen-based mineral fertilizers and related industrial products. Its product line also includes phosphate and potash-based mineral fertilizers, as we ...

, American CF Industries and surpassing Canadian

PotashCorp The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, also known as PotashCorp, was a company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company merged with Calgary-based Agrium to form Nutrien, in a transaction that closed on January 1, 2018. The company was the ...

. Ostchem includes smaller companies in production of nitrogen fertilizers, their distribution and transportation. Main products include nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonia, urea,

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, but does not form hydrates. It is predominantly us ...

, CAN ( calcium ammonium nitrate), UAN ( urea ammonium nitrate), and

ammonium sulfate Ammonium sulfate (American English and international scientific usage; ammonium sulphate in British English); (NH4)2SO4, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen a ...

. Beside fertilizers, the factories of the company produce products of

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a branch of chemical synthesis concerned with the construction of organic compounds. Organic compounds are molecules consisting of combinations of covalently-linked hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms. Within the gen ...

and

organic acids An organic acid is an organic compound with acidic properties. The most common organic acids are the carboxylic acids, whose acidity is associated with their carboxyl group –COOH. Sulfonic acids, containing the group –SO2OH, are r ...

( adipic and

acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main compone ...

methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical compound and the simplest aliphatic Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with the chemical formula (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often ab ...

caprolactam Caprolactam (CPL) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula (CH2)5C(O)NH. This colourless solid is a lactam (a cyclic amide) of caproic acid. Global demand for this compound is approximately five million tons per year, and the vast ...

(CPL),

vinyl acetate Vinyl acetate is an organic compound with the Chemical formula, formula CH3CO2CH=CH2. This colorless liquid is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, polyvinyl alcohol, and other important industrial polymers. Prod ...

, polystyrol).

List of production factories

* Azot (

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

, Ukraine) * Stirol (

Horlivka Horlivka ( ; , ), also known as Gorlovka (, ), is a city in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Its population is Economic activity is predominantly coal mining and the chemical industry. The Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages has a two-building ...

, Ukraine) * Sievierodonetsk Association Azot ( Severodonetsk, Ukraine) * Rivneazot (

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

, Ukraine) * Nitrofert (

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve () is a city and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of ...

, Estonia) * Tajik Azot (

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

, Tajikistan)Tajik Azot
Tajikistan portal During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the Azot plant in

Sievierodonetsk Sievierodonetsk or Severodonetsk, officially since 2024 Siverskodonetsk, is a city in Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It is located to the northeast of the left bank of the Donets river and approximately to the northwest from the administrati ...

became a key site in the battle of Sievierodonetsk.

Logistics

Distribution of the products is realized through "UkrAhro NPK" that possess the biggest network of agrarian warehouses in Ukraine (accounts for 28). Transportation of the products outside of Ukraine is conducted through a specialized marine terminal located in

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

and oscillated into a separate seaport " Nika-Terra" at the northern tip of Dnieper-Bug Estuary.

References

External links

Official website
{{Group DF Holding companies of Ukraine Ukrainian companies established in 2004