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Property and Business Interruption Insurance Claims and Recovery
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Property and Business Interruption Insurance Claims and Recovery

17. Property and Business Interruption Insurance Claims and Recovery

Pryor Facility

In June 2010, a pipe failure in the primary reformer of the ammonia plant at the Pryor Facility resulted in a fire that damaged the ammonia plant. The fire was immediately extinguished and there were no injuries. As a result of this damage, the Pryor Facility was unable to produce anhydrous ammonia or UAN during substantially all of third quarter of 2010. Our insurance policy provided, for the policy period covering this claim, for business interruption coverage for certain lost profits and extra expense with a 30-day waiting period. Therefore, we filed an insurance claim for business interruption. During 2011, we recognized an insurance recovery of $8.6 million relating to this business interruption claim, which was recorded as a reduction to cost of sales. We do not have any remaining insurance claims associated with our business interruption coverage relating to this event.

Beginning on February 27, 2012, the Pryor Facility experienced unplanned downtime in the urea plant due to a damaged stainless steel liner within the urea reactor. As a result, the Pryor Facility was unable to produce UAN through early July 2012. Our insurance policy provides, for the policy period covering this claim, for repair or replacement cost coverage relating to property damage with a $1.0 million deductible and provides for business interruption coverage for certain lost profits and extra expense with a 30-day waiting period. A notice of insurance claims for property damage and business interruption was filed with the insurance carrier. After an initial investigation was performed by an insurance adjuster, we received a reservation of rights letter stating that some insurance policy exclusions could apply resulting in a full or partial denial as to our claims for property damage and/or business interruption. A recovery, if any, from our insurance coverage has not been recognized since, for financial reporting purposes, it is not probable and reasonably estimable and/or it is considered a gain contingency, which will be recognized if, and when, realized or realizable and earned.

El Dorado Facility

On May 15, 2012, the El Dorado Facility suffered significant damage when a reactor in its 98% strength nitric acid plant (“DSN plant”) exploded. No employees or individuals in the surrounding area were seriously injured as a result of the explosion. In addition, several other plants and infrastructure within the El Dorado Facility sustained various degrees of damage. Our insurance policy provides, for the policy period covering this claim, for repair or replacement cost coverage relating to property damage with a $1.0 million deductible and provides for business interruption coverage for certain lost profits and extra expense with a 30-day waiting period. A notice of insurance claims for property damage and business interruption was filed with the insurance carriers but the total amounts have not been determined. The engineering firm representing our insurance carriers has determined that the DSN plant was not destroyed by the explosion and was repairable. However we have concluded that due to the extensive damage, the DSN plant should not be repaired but should be replaced with a new 65% strength nitric acid plant and a separate nitric acid concentrator plant. The total amount of insurance recoveries relating to this event will be dependent on an estimate of the costs and the length of time to repair the damaged DSN plant as if it would have been repaired, which amount has not yet been determined. Based upon our assessment that it was probable that the amount of coverage for property damages would exceed our property loss deductible, the net book value of the damaged property and other recoverable costs incurred through December 31, 2012, we did not recognize a loss relating to property damage from this explosion but we recorded an insurance claim receivable relating to this event primarily consisting of the disposal of the net book value of damaged property and certain repairs and clean-up costs incurred (“recoverable costs”).

 

During 2012, our insurance carriers approved unallocated payments totaling $40 million (of which $20 million was paid in 2012). Also see Note 21 – Subsequent Events. We received correspondence associated with the $20 million received in January 2013, which stated that our insurance carriers are still investigating the circumstances surrounding this event (including the cause of this event, scope of our losses and support for our claim) under a reservation of rights. For financial reporting purposes, we allocated $28.6 million to our property insurance claim and $11.4 million to our business interruption claim primarily based on the claims information provided to our insurance carriers in relation to our requests for insurance proceeds.

The $28.6 million allocated to the property insurance claim was applied against the recoverable costs totaling $21.7 million. The insurance recovery in excess of the recoverable costs of $6.9 million was not recognized since it is considered a gain contingency, which will be recognized if, and when, realized or realizable and earned.

The insurance recovery of $11.4 million allocated to the business interruption claim was applied against recoverable costs (primarily relating to purchased product sold to our customers while certain of our nitric and sulfuric acid plants were being repaired) totaling $7.3 million as a reduction to cost of sales (see Note 21-Subsequent Events). The insurance recovery in excess of recoverable costs of $4.1 million was not recognized since a portion of this amount relates to recoverable costs, which we were unable to conclude that it was at least probable (for financial reporting purposes) that these costs would be approved and a portion of this amount relates to lost profits, which is considered a gain contingency. The unrecognized portion of this recovery, and any additional recoveries, will be recognized if, and when, realized or realizable and earned.

As of December 31, 2012, the balance of the insurance claim receivable relating to this event was $9.0 million, which consists of the approved payments due from our insurance carriers and allocated to our insurance claim as discussed above.

Cherokee Facility

On November 13, 2012, a pipe ruptured within the Cherokee Facility causing damage primarily to the heat exchanger portion of its ammonia plant. No serious injuries or environmental impact resulted from the pipe rupture. As a result of the damage, the Cherokee Facility can only produce, on a limited basis, nitric acid and AN solution from purchased ammonia until the repairs are completed. Our insurance policy provides, for the policy period covering this claim, for repair or replacement cost coverage relating to property damage with a $2.5 million deductible and provides for business interruption coverage for certain lost profits and extra expense with a 30-day waiting period. A notice of insurance claims for property damage and business interruption was filed with the insurance carriers but the total amounts have not been determined but are expected to be substantial.

Because our assessment that it was probable that the amount of coverage for property damages would exceed our property loss deductible, the net book value of the damaged property and other recoverable costs incurred through December 31, 2012, we did not recognize a loss relating to property damage from this pipe rupture but we recorded an insurance claim receivable relating to this event consisting of the recoverable costs.

In addition, a recovery for certain lost profits from our business interruption coverage has not been recognized since it is considered a gain contingency, which will be recognized if, and when, realized or realizable and earned.

As of December 31, 2012, the balance of the insurance claim receivable relating to this event was $1.1 million consisting of recoverable costs.

It is possible that the actual development of the insurance claims discussed above could be different from our current allocations and estimates.