Nigeria’s Notore Chemical Industries Plc shut down its urea plant in Onne near Port Harcourt on Jan. 15 ahead of a turnaround maintenance program (TAM), the company said in a Jan. 15 corporate disclosure.
The turnaround is aimed at restoring the plant to its nameplate capacity of 500,000 mt/y of granular product, improve its reliability, and sustain a daily output of 1,500 mt, according to a report by This Day Nigeria, citing Notore’s company Secretary Otivbo Saleh. Early work began last year, and the turnaround is expected to be completed on March 8.
The most recent urea production figure provided by the company indicated output reached 80,777 mt in the fourth quarter of 2019, suggesting a capacity utilization of around 65 percent.
In a separate development, Notore commissioned a new 2,000 mt/d NPK blending plant in March 2020. The company said in late November its production of NPK fertilizers had begun “to ramp up gradually,” with some local market introduction achieved in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30. It reported that Nigerian fertilizer demand remains robust and it anticipates “significant increases” in its NPK production output and sales in FY2021.