Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL) clarified at an FY2022 earnings call on Nov. 15 that it sees its recently-announced joint venture signing with Saudi Arabian firm Modern Chemicals Co. (MCC) to develop a Technical Ammonium Nitrate (TAN) Plant at Ras Al Khair Industrial City, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province (GM Nov. 4, p. 35), as a “low capital, high return” type project.
Riyadh-based MCC is developing a 300,000 mt/y TAN production plant in Ras Al Khair Industrial City.
“Our main interest is to get advantage offtake to support our growth agenda in Europe,” IPL Managing Director and CEO Jeanne Johns told analysts at the earnings call.
She said IPL is not looking to participate in the Middle East market, rather that the company is looking at “a facility that has deepwater access, has advantaged ammonia based on its proximity to some of the cheapest gas reserves in the world, and provides a growth platform internationally for IPL.”
Johns said the negotiation process as to what IPL and MCC bring to the jv are still underway. The original announcement of the jv signing indicated the TAN output from the plant would be targeted to the Saudi Arabian and regional mining sectors.