Start-up of SAFCO’s new Saudi urea plant delayed until May

LONDON (ICIS)–Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (SAFCO) on Thursday announced a fresh delay to the start-up of its new 1.1m tonne/year urea plant in Jubail.

The state-of-the-art facility began a three-month trial on 26 December and was due to enter commercial production in the next few weeks.

However, in a bourse filing, SAFCO announced the $530m plant’s start date has now been pushed back until mid-May for unspecified reasons.

The producer, part of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), had originally scheduled a late 2014 start-up for the export-oriented unit.

The manufacturer has been in talks with several buyers about supply agreements, although no official confirmation of where the urea will be shipped has been made.

SAFCO, which is 42.99% owned by SABIC and 57.01% by private investors, added in today’s filing that the delay would not increase the project’s overall cost.