Canadian Fertilizer Giant Nutrien Shuts Trinidad Nitrogen Complex Indefinitely Amid Gas Shortage

Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien announced on October 5, 2026 that it will indefinitely shut down its Trinidad Nitrogen operations at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision closes a strategic review that lasted almost a year and turns what was first presented as a temporary pause into an open-ended closure. Nutrien said that persistent natural gas constraints and uncertainty made the shutdown the best option to improve free cash flow and return on invested capital. Several media outlets describe the closure as permanent, although the company itself uses the word indefinite and has not publicly ruled out a sale of the site.

The Point Lisas complex is one of the largest ammonia sites in the world. It includes four ammonia plants with a combined nameplate capacity of about 1.8 million tonnes per year and one urea plant able to produce about 600,000 tonnes per year. Before the halt, Nutrien sold roughly 85,000 tonnes of ammonia and 55,000 tonnes of urea from Trinidad every month, with cargoes shipped to around 30 countries. The company and its predecessor PCS Nitrogen had operated in the country for about 45 years.

The plants have produced nothing since October 23, 2025, when Nutrien carried out a controlled shutdown. The immediate trigger was a dispute with the National Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of the state-owned National Gas Company (NGC) that manages the port and pier infrastructure at Point Lisas. National Energy wanted to raise port fees and claimed about 28 million US dollars in retroactive charges going back to January 2021. Nutrien rejected the charges as unilateral, asked for the question of long-term gas supply to be addressed, and saw its port access restricted. On October 22, 2025, NGC allowed the company to keep using the port until the end of the year at the previous rates, but the retroactive claim was not withdrawn and Nutrien went ahead with the shutdown the next day.

The first supply chain effects appeared within days. About 350 contract workers were sent home, and the national supply of carbon dioxide, a by-product of ammonia production used by the food and beverage industry, was disrupted until NGC arranged replacement volumes from another Point Lisas producer.

The situation hardened at the start of 2026. Nutrien's gas supply contract expired on January 1, 2026, and NGC isolated the gas meters serving the facility. At that time, roughly 400 permanent employees and 100 contractors were still attached to the site. In May 2026, a memo to staff confirmed that Nutrien was exploring a possible sale of the complex. In the same month, local media reported that National Energy was still pursuing the disputed port fees, with a revised claim of about 23 million US dollars. According to Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal, NGC also made an offer to buy the complex.

On October 5, 2026, around 350 employees were told at a staff meeting that the retrenchment process is about to begin. Local media report that Nutrien plans to wind down its nitrogen business in Trinidad by the end of 2026. The company has not published a job figure or severance terms.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago disputes Nutrien's explanation. Moonilal called the decision unfortunate and argued that it was driven by shareholder margins rather than by a lack of gas. He said that restarting the complex remains a priority, either with Nutrien or with a new operator. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar stated that NGC will no longer sell gas at prices that do not benefit the state company and that the gas will be redirected to other plants or to LNG production. Opposition figure Stuart Young blamed the government for the loss of jobs and foreign exchange. The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago warned of lost exports, tax revenue and investor confidence, while noting that gas supply is projected to improve from 2028.

The closure reflects a structural gas shortage. National gas production has fallen from a peak of about 4.3 billion cubic feet per day in 2010 to about 2.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2024, a drop of more than 40%. Other Point Lisas producers are also cutting back. Methanex announced on June 29, 2026 that it would indefinitely idle its Titan methanol plant, which has a capacity of 860,000 tonnes per year, after failing to secure a new gas contract. Its Atlas methanol plant has been idle since September 2024. Proman, the largest tenant of the estate, announced workforce reductions on September 23, 2026 and cited constrained gas supply in Trinidad.

The loss of Nutrien's output is visible in national statistics. Trinidad and Tobago produced about 814,000 tonnes of ammonia in the first quarter of 2026, down 25.8% from 1,096,475 tonnes a year earlier. Ammonia exports fell 22.4% to 671,676 tonnes. The six plants still running increased their output by 9.7%, which offset only part of the 355,078 tonnes that Nutrien's four plants had produced in the first quarter of 2025.

For buyers, the main exposure is in the United States. Trinidad and Tobago supplied 47% of US ammonia imports between 2021 and 2024, just behind Canada with 49%, according to the US Geological Survey. The immediate market effect of the October 2026 announcement is limited because the volumes have already been missing for almost a year, and net imports cover only about 5% of US ammonia consumption. Nutrien has kept its 2026 nitrogen sales volume guidance unchanged because it had assumed no production from Trinidad, and it plans to grow volumes from its North American plants through reliability improvements and low-cost capacity upgrades.

As of October 6, 2026, the complex remains idle and no restart date exists. The open questions include the severance terms for workers, a possible sale to NGC or another operator, the outcome of the port fee dispute, and the risk that more plants at Point Lisas will be idled if gas supply stays short before 2028.