WSJ: "Shale-Gas Boom Spurs Race"

For producers of nitrogen fertilizers, "the economics have changed radically," said Stephen R. Wilson, CEO of CF Industries Holdings Inc. of Deerfield, Ill. Natural gas is by far the biggest raw-material cost for making anhydrous ammonia, the base nitrogen fertilizer made by CF. The company, which has gone from a high-cost producer by world standards to a low-cost producer, plans to spend $1 billion to $1.5 billion over several years to boost capacity at some of its North American plants.