PMI, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, (Pemex) signed a contract for the purchase of the assets of the company Nitrogenous Agro SA de CV, and plans to restart 990,000 mt/y of urea production in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz as early as 2015. The project involves an investment of up to $ 475 million, including the purchase of existing assets, as well as rehabilitation and renovation of the plant. Pemex said the expected production of urea accounts for about 75 percent of current national demand. Pemex says the production could replace some $400 million per year in fertilizer imports. However, Pemex said it also seeks to reconstitute the domestic market of this industry and direct the product toward the lower- level of economic development in the country, located in the southeast region of the country. Ammonia will be supplied by Pemex Petrochemical Complex, located in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, just 28 kilometers from Agro Nitrogenous facilities. Lower priced natural gas from the U.S. is expected to make the production more economical as a new pipeline will bring product from Texas into central Mexico.
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