MOPCO Took Over Agrium Fertilizer Project

After months of delay, Egypt’s MISR Oil Processing Company (MOPCO) has agreed to acquire EAgrium joint-venture fertilizer project making EAgrium a subsidiary of MOPCO. Under the new deal, Agrium would own 26% of the combined project, including MOPCO’s recently completed 675,000 tonne/year urea plant as the acquisition is based on share swapping.

The Egypt Fertlizer project worth $1.2 billion was delayed on 21 April due to local resistance with Egyptian government was rumoured to take over the whole project.

Yara Formed Joint-Venture with NOC Fertiliser

Norway’s Yara has signed major agreements with National Oil Corp (NOC) and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) to form a joint venture for the production and marketing of mineral fertilizers

The JV comprise of 50% stake by Yara and remaining owned by LIA and NOC. The JV was setup to upgrade existing ammonia and urea production plants with capacity of approximately 700,000 tonnes/year of ammonia and 900,000 tonnes/year of urea located at Marsa el-Brega and additional new fertilizer plants.

India Urea Plant Revived by RCF and DoF

India’s Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) together with the Department of Fertilizers (DoF) plan to revive India's already mothballed plants due to rising demand and shortages of fertilizers. Currently, India is importing 5 to 6 million tonnes of urea on top of 20 million tonnes local production.

RCF and DOF planning to revive Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation’s Durgapur plant in West Bengal, which was earlier a naphtha plant, and Fertilizer Corporations of India’s coal-based Talcher plant in Orissa which both are now at the first stage of our feasibility study to produce 100,000 tonnes/year of urea.

The revival plan is expected to be completed in 2012 subject to assurance by the Petroleum Ministry of natural gas to supply within three-to-four years for manufacturing urea.

Oman and India Collaborating on Urea/Ammonia Plant

Despite their differences, India and Oman are planning to build a fertilizer plant comprising urea and ammonia plants at Sur in northeast Oman. The capacity of the facility will be able to produce 1.65m tonnes/year of urea and 248,000 tonnes/year of ammonia with total cost of the project amounting at $1bn.

Analysts puts the deal as "opportunity give-away" since the abundance of feedstock in Oman.

New Fertilizer Plant in Inner Mongolia, China

China is planning another new fertilizer plant in central Mongolia by Yunnan Yuntianhua company of China. The fertilizer facility is expected to produce 500 ktpa ammonia and 800 ktpa urea capacity with total investment cost of $480 million. The project will utilize rich coal reserves as feedstock for the plant.

The company will be a join venture between Hong Kong's Jinxin Group and Yuntianhua 51% stake. The fertilizer complex capacity will eventually be increased into 2 mil tonnes per year of ammonia and 3.2 mil tonnes of urea.