No more mystery on the Nile, fertilizer project to launch in 2019

LONDON (ICIS)–The death of a major ammonia and urea project on a bank of the Nile amid social and fiscal upheaval in the country was premature, with work on the plant back underway, a lead contractor confirmed on Wednesday.

Work on the delayed Chemical Industries Holding Co. (Kima) ammonia plant at Aswan has restarted and the project should be ready for commissioning in early 2019, US ammonia technology specialist KBR revealed.

Houston-based KBR has been awarded a new contract for proprietary equipment and also restarted work under the contract awarded by Italy’s Tecnimont announced in December 2011 for license and basic engineering design (BED).

Scheduled for commissioning in early 2019, the facility will have a 1,200-tonne/day ammonia unit and a 1,575-tonne/day urea unit.

This gives a total nitrogen fertilizer capacity of 550,000 tonnes/year, although it is unclear how much of each crop input will stay in Egypt and how much will be exported.

The plant was originally scheduled to come on-stream in July 2014, but was postponed due to the social and economic upheaval that hit the country and wider region several years ago.

“KBR is providing Tecnimont with post-BED support and proprietary equipment for Kima’s new plant,” KBR said in a statement.

“The plant is being built on a fast-track basis and will support regional development plans in Aswan as well as Egypt’s drive to build modern fertilizer complexes.

“The project is expected to reach provisional acceptance in 34 months.”

“KBR’s ammonia process is a benchmark in the industry as is evidenced by our global installed base,” added John Derbyshire, president, KBR Technology and Consulting.

“We are honoured that Kima has selected KBR and look forward to working closely with our EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] partner Tecnimont to deliver a world-class ammonia plant to Kima.”

Kima has yet to provide a project update on its website and was unavailable at press time for comment on the status of the overall complex.