China BlueChemical Ltd said two of its plants in Hainan province were shut down on Tuesday due to suspension of natural gas supply as under-water transmission pipes were damaged during engineering work nearby by third-party contractors.

The country's top producer of nitrogenous fertilisers said in a statement late on Tuesday that its Fudao Phase II urea plant and CNOOC Jiantao methanol plant in Hainan were affected as the natural gas supply by a gas field operated by CNOOC Ltd was suspended due to the damage.

China BlueChemical said CNOOC was conducting urgent recovery work but it gave no further information.