Acron Group, Moscow, has agreed to buy a still-to-be completed nitrogen fertilizer project in Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state from state-owned Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), according to Bloomberg, citing a Reuters report, which cited information provided by Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina. The sale was for Unidade de Fertilizantes Nitrogenados III (UFN-III) in Três Lagoas. The transaction value was not disclosed.
Petrobras has been trying to sell the project for some time – at least since 2017 (GM Sept. 15, 2017). In 2019, it terminated talks to sell the project, as well as the nitrogen fertilizer plant Araucária Nitrogenados SA (ANSA) in Paraná state (GM Nov. 27, 2019), to Acron.
UFN-III has been under construction since 2011, and at last report was 81 percent complete. It is reported to be near main consumer markets and the Gasbol gas pipeline. The plant’s production capacity was targeted to be 3,600 mt/d of urea, 2,200 mt/d of ammonia, and 290 mt/d of carbon dioxide. The ammonia technology is KBR, while urea technology is Stamicarbon.