ATOME Energy, Leeds, UK, announced on Jan. 17 that it has had multiple offtake proposals and is in advanced negotiations with leading international players for the complete offtake of its proposed 250,000 mt/y green calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) project in Villeta, Paraguay (GM May 12, 2023; May 26, 2023).
ATOME said it has become clear that there is a significant and growing market for CAN on the doorstep of Paraguay, in Brazil and Argentina, particularly with the latter market becoming more open due to the change in government. It said the project is attractive to European and UK markets, where increasing emphasis is made on green fertilizer and carbon tax penalties are now in place and will grow increasingly in the next few years.
Detailed Front-End Engineering (FEED), Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC), and financing negotiations for what ATOME calls the world’s first industrial scale green ammonia-to-fertilizer facility are now in their final stages, with FEED and EPC announcements expected in the first quarter.
ATOME expects an oversubscription in respect of the debt financing component of some 2x. It is confident that the debt element of the financing can be achieved on terms acceptable and as envisioned by the company, and it expects to mandate the lead arrangers in the first quarter. ATOME also expects concrete news on the offtake in the first quarter of 2024.
“The Board is confident that 2024 will be a transformational year for ATOME and we are grateful to the team and our strategic partners who have continued to work throughout the end of the year in order to make rapid progress on the engineering, financial, and commercial fronts,” said ATOME CEO Olivier Mussat. “We are confident that in this Q1, further key project milestones will be achieved, and we look forward to taking FID on the Villeta project once these workstreams are completed.”
Paraguay granted the project Free-Trade Zone status in November, proving major tax exemptions (GM Nov. 17, 2023). Mussat noted as well that work is continuing in parallel on other company projects, particularly in Costa Rica (GM Feb. 3, 2023).