Maire Tecnimont SpA, Rome, announced on Dec. 17 that its subsidiary, Tecnimont SpA, has been awarded a contract by Volgafert LLC for the realization of a granulated urea plant on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis for approximately €200 million. Volgafert LLC is a special purpose company owned by Kuibyshevazot, Togliatti, a fertilizer and caprolactam producer, and by METDEV1 srl (through a minority stake), a company belonging to Maire Tecnimont Group and participated in by Simest SpA (part of CDP Group, supporting foreign investments of Italian companies). Volgafert will produce and commercialize urea both for domestic and export markets.
In order to finance the whole plant, a credit line of approximately €160 million provided by some international commercial banks and guaranteed by Italian export credit agency SACE (CDP Group) is currently under finalization.
The new urea production unit will be located inside Kuibyshevazot industrial premises in Tolyatti, located in the Samara region, and will be developed on the basis of Stamicarbon urea technology. The project’s scope of work envisages the provision of engineering services, equipment and material supply, and construction activities up to commissioning, start up, and guarantee test run of a granulated urea plant with a capacity of 540,000 mt/y.
The Notice to Proceed date is expected by early 2019, while the completion of the project is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Maire Tecnimont said the jv provides further evidence of the group’s strategic and proactive project development approach focused on an early involvement in clients’ investment initiatives. Moreover, it said the project is another example of KuibyshevAzot’s strong track record in setting up jv’s with leading industrial players and implementing state-of-the-art technologies to sustain its leadership position.
“We are eager to strategically cooperate with a prestigious industry leader such as KuibyshevAzot in one of our core business areas, fertilizers,” said Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont CEO. “With this new collaboration we confirm the reliability of our group’s value proposition covering the whole value chain, from project development, to licensing to complete EPC execution.”