Cairo-Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) said July 14 that OCI Fertilizer International B.V., a subsidiary, has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in MICRO Chemie B.V. MICRO Chemie B.V. owns and operates ammonia storage tanks with a combined storage capacity of 30,000 mt and has a lease for a terminal located at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands for a period of 25 years, starting from 2002 and extendable for another 25 years upon expiration of the lease contract. The terminal has a permit to receive up to 600,000 mt/y of ammonia and to deliver up to 550,000 mt/y. The terminal has waterway access comprising two jetties, which can accommodate both large tankers and smaller barges. These waterways provide access to the Rhine River, through which the majority of European inland shipping is routed, allowing delivery to France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In addition, the terminal is also accessible by a 160 km railway network running from the south and the east of Rotterdam up to, respectively, the Belgian and German borders. “The acquisition of MICRO Chemie B.V. offers significant synergies to the Group,” said OCI Nitrogen CEO Renso Zwiers. “It will, in the future, allow us to receive ammonia from the Group’s other production sources with a connection to a critical in-land transportation hub. The ammonia supply will also ensure additional security of ammonia supply to the Group’s Geleen production complex in the Netherlands, where ammonia is also produced and consumed in the manufacture of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate, and by neighboring third party chemical producers.”
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