Cairo — Orascom Construction Industries told analysts June 11 that its new Algerian complex, Sorfert Algeria, successfully started production runs for Line 1 urea and ammonia in May. The first commercial shipment is slated for some time this month. Line 2 starts production later this year, with ammonia production expected in the fourth quarter. Sorfert adds 1.2 million mt/y of urea and 800,000 mt/y to OCI’s portfolio. In the meantime, OCI reported that its Beaumont, Texas, plant sold 38,000 mt of ammonia in the first quarter, and that going forward the plant is on track to produce 250,000 mt/y and 750,000 mt/y of methanol. OCI is still to pull the trigger on a large nitrogen plant for the U.S. heartland, where both Iowa and Illinois are vying for the plant. It is hoping for a decision by September. The company will use some of the funds from its recent sale in its stake in Gavilon Group LLC to pay for the new U.S. plant. In Brazil, where OCI hopes to partner in a new nitrogen plant, it said it is making very slow progress. It is hoping to find a location for that plant in the second half of 2012.
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