Japanese firms assist with $1 B Tatarstan complex

Tokyo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) and Sojitz Corp. of Japan, jointly with China National Chemical Engineering Corporation (CNCEC), have received an order from joint stock company Ammoni of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation, for a project to construct a large-scale urea fertilizer plant capable of producing ammonia and methanol concurrently. The contract, which will exceed US$1 billion in total, was officially signed on Nov. 13. The project will be the first large-scale fertilizer plant construction project in Russia in 20 years. The new fertilizer plant will be built in Tatarstan at Mendeleevsk, approximately 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow. It will be one of the world’s largest plants capable of concurrently producing ammonia and methanol from natural gas. The plant will have a capacity to produce 2,050 mt/d of ammonia, or 1,382 mt/d ammonia and 668 mt/d of methanol in the case of concurrent production. It will adopt process technologies from Haldor Topsoe A/S of Denmark, Saipem S.p.A. of Italy, and Uhde Fertilizer Technology B.V. of the Netherlands. The plant is slated to go on-stream in 2015. The Japanese firms said the order contract calls for plant engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), which is rare among contracts involving Russian projects. MHI, as leader of the consortium, will be responsible for basic and detailed design work, equipment procurement, and dispatch of technical advisors for installation and test operation. Sojitz will handle coordination between related parties and transport within Russia, leveraging its business experiences and track records in Russia. CNCEC will take charge of construction work. Ammoni is a government-affiliated company jointly established by the Tatarstan government and Russia’s Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (vnesheconombank:VEB) in 2006. CNCEC is a major Chinese construction and engineering firm directly controlled by the State Council of China; the company has design and construction subsidiaries.