Industry reporting put Qatar's about 800,000 tonnes a year Barzan sulfur-forming project behind original schedule, with commissioning pushed into 2021 by COVID-related delays. Barzan later became a key Gulf solid-export node. Restart risk resurfaced in 2026 conflict reporting after a fatal explosion during restart operations. The 2021 trends piece is at https://www.bcinsight.crugroup.com/2021/07/31/ammonia-and-sulphur-market-trends/.
800,000 tonnes a year of forming is granules from Qatari recovered sulfur, not a new gas field in a sulfur-desk sentence. COVID slippage is why Argus's just-over-3-million-tonne 2021 capacity forecast had a delay caveat. The Gulf remained the swing incremental seaborne supplier. It did not commission on a sulfur-price timetable. It commissioned on a construction-and-pandemic timetable.
Alberta recovered sulfur still leaves mainly through Vancouver. Delayed Barzan tonnes are delayed competing origin into China. Mid-2021 Tampa about $192 and China still importing as the world's largest buyer meant those delayed tonnes were missed in a firm market. 2022's $77 August QSP meant they arrived, if on stream, into a crash. Timing is the story. Nameplate is the footnote.
May 2022 QSP at $460 FOB Ras Laffan and Mesaieed, Argus sample, is Barzan-era Qatari solid priced at the spike. August $77 is the crash. 2026 Hormuz commercial sulfur near-zero and a fatal Barzan restart explosion are the conflict-era node. May 2021 is COVID delay only. Do not collapse those dates. The 2026 restart note is a later fact about the same plant, not a 2021 event.
Al Fadhili more than 1 million tonnes a year and Al Zour early-2022 operations are the Saudi and Kuwaiti counterparts in the same Argus capacity stack. Three Gulf projects, one incremental region. Canadian forming projects are the Pacific stack. Two regions, one seaborne market.
USGS world about 80 million tonnes in 2021, UAE later 6.0 million in 2022, is the planet. Licensed weekly grids are not restated. The about 800,000 tonnes a year and 2021 commissioning push are BC Insight and Argus language.
Zhenjiang stock heading toward 0.52 million tonnes by year-end is the Chinese tightness delayed Barzan tonnes would have met. They met it late, then met a quota, then met a crash.
Figures follow Argus. Barzan's COVID delay into 2021 is the Qatari supply-timing chapter under a firm mid-year market.