Chinese-owned Tierra Del Fuego Power & Chemical Co. Ltd. (TEQSA) will have a majority stake in the Ohio Valley Resources LLC (OVR) Fairfield, Ill., nitrogen plant planned for Spencer County, Ind., north of Rockport. TEQSA and OVR earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the plant, focusing on equity financing (GM Dec. 23, 2013).
OVR President and CEO Doug Wilson told Green Markets July 17 that TEQSA has committed to the project with an enforceable contract. He said OVR continues in negotiations with other potential equity partners, but that it will go forward with or without them. He declined to quantify TEQSA’s stake beyond it being a majority. He said debt financing for the project with be sourced out of both China and the U.S.
Wilson said negotiations continue regarding natural gas, water, off-take marketing, etc. He expects that OVR will soon exercise its options on the site.
As earlier reported, Sinopec Engineering Inc. (SEI), together with a U.S.-based global engineering firm, will execute the front-end engineering (FEED) and the detailed engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the plant.
OVR hopes to keep the lid on the cost of the project close to the initial $952 million, though costs have shot up on competing projects.
OVR no longer quantifies product capacities, but initial projections were 2,420 st/d of anhydrous ammonia, 3,000 st/d of UAN, and 300/st/d of DEF (GM Dec. 10, 2012).
Foreign-owned seems to be the trend for new U.S. greenfield nitrogen plants. A competing nitrogen plant in Indiana, Midwest Fertilizer, is backed by Pakistan’s Fatima Group (GM April 14, p. 1). The Iowa Fertilizer Co., which is well under construction in Wever, Iowa, started out being owned by Egypt’s Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). OCI has since been integrated into OCI NV, based in The Netherlands. Others are proposed by Russia’s EuroChem, Germany’s BASF, and Norway’s Yara International ASA. Cronus Chemicals LLC, which hopes to build a plant in Illinois or Iowa, is reportedly owned by Swiss and Turkish investors. To date, North American companies CF Industries Holdings Inc., Koch Nitrogen Co., Agrium Inc., and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. are investing in brownfield development.