EuroChem Group AG, Zug, Switzerland, announced on Oct.1 that it has signed an early works contract with Italy’s Maire Tecnimont for a potential new ammonia and urea production facility at Kingisepp in northwest Russia, subject to further investment plan approval.
Under the terms of the agreement, Tecnimont SpA and Tecnimont Russia LLC – both subsidiaries of Maire Tecnimont – will perform preliminary engineering and site surveying work at the brownfield site adjacent to EuroChem’s existing production facilities at Kingisepp.
The Memorandum of Intent (MoI) includes an extension into Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) activities should EuroChem’s investment plan in the project go forward. According to Marie Tecnimont, the proposed €1 billion project would have capacity for 3,000 mt/day of ammonia and 4,000 mt/day of urea once fully ramped up.
“Expansion of production facilities is a strategic goal for us and part of the next chapter of our growth story,” said EuroChem CEO Petter Østbø. “We are pleased to take the next step toward considering building this world-scale plant with Maire Tecnimont, a company that we have worked with closely for many years.”
Østbø said in London last month that EuroChem was keen to build new nitrogen production facilities, but the location remained open. In June, EuroChem confirmed that it was assessing further production capacity at Kingisepp, reporting that it had signed a letter of intent with Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry and Leningrad region authorities to build further production facilities for ammonia, urea, and methanol (GM June 14, p. 1; Aug. 9, p. 29).
At the time, there was talk that the proposed new plants would be capable of producing about 1 million mt/y of ammonia, 1.2 million mt/y of urea, and up to 1.7 million mt/y of methanol, although the addition of methanol capacity at Kingisepp was seen as a potential later-stage project. EuroChem cautioned, however, that no final investment decision had been taken.
EuroChem started up a new 1 million mt/y ammonia plant at Kingisepp in early June, which, according to the producer, has the largest single train ammonia production capacity in Europe (GM June 7, p. 1). Maire Tecnimont was the general designer and contractor for the construction of that facility, known as “EuroChem Northwest.” The plant reached the half-million mt milestone on Sept. 16 (GM Sept. 20, p. 3), and has enabled EuroChem to become self-sufficient in ammonia.
Output from EuroChem Northwest goes to the group’s fertilizer production plants in Antwerp, Belgium; Lifosa in Lithuania; and Phosphorit, the group’s adjacent phosphates facility in Kingisepp (GM Aug. 2, p. 30). Ultimately, around 25-30 percent of the output is earmarked for sale to third parties, with some merchant sales already completed.