Kazak ammonia and ammonium nitrate (AN) producer KazAzot JSC has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with the Freeport Economic Zone Seaport of the Caspian Sea port of Aktau to build an ammonia, urea, and AN production complex.
The proposed new production complex is planned to have production capacities of 600,000 mt/y of ammonia, 395,000 mt/y of nitric acid, 577,000 mt/y of urea, and 500,000 mt/y of AN, according to a report by Fertilizer Daily, citing the MOC document.
The memorandum provides for the allocation of a land plot for the proposed complex, but no details of the proposed project timeline were reported.
KazAzot has existing production capacity at Aktau for 0.2 million mt/y mt of ammonia and 0.4 million mt/y of AN, as well nitric acid capacity. The company produced 189,832 million mt of liquid ammonia and 325,247 mt of AN in 2020, and sold 152,120 mt of AN to the agrarian sector that year, according to its website.
It exported 145,904 mt of AN in 2021, up from 134,581 mt the previous year, with 90% of the tons going to Ukraine in 2021, according to Trade Data Monitor. Neighboring Kyrgyzstan was the second biggest offtaker. KazAzot intermittently has exported small volumes of ammonia in recent years, exporting 350 mt in 2021, mainly to Ukraine, according to Trade Data Monitor data.