Government of Quebec endorses proposed IFFCO urea plant
IFFCO Canada announced on April 16 that the Government of Québec has authorized the company to move forward with the proposed fertilizer plant at Bécancour. The decree was adopted on March 26 by the provincial cabinet upon recommendation by the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks, and published in the April 16 edition of the Official Gazette of Québec.
IFFCO Canada said the adoption of the decree marks an important step in project development, as the company is now authorized to proceed with construction at the Bécancour Port and Industrial Park in central Québec. In addition to sanctioning the go-ahead, the government decree also details the commitments to which IFFCO Canada has agreed, including measures designed to protect and control air, water, and soil quality, as well as requisite environmental monitoring and emergency measures. The project enjoys the financial support of the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec.
“On behalf of IFFCO Canada, we wish to thank the Government of Québec, as well as all stakeholders for the diligence and rigour demonstrated during the environmental assessment of our project,” said IFFCO CEO Manish Gupta. “We also wish to thank the host community for unstinted support throughout the entire process, which has contributed to our obtaining the decree.”
The proposed facility would be one of the largest urea production plants in North America, with an annual production capacity of 1.3-1.6 million mt of granular urea and 760,000 mt of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). The plant is scheduled to be completed in 2017 at a project cost of C$1.6 billion, based on the most recent bankable feasibility study. Canadian agriculture cooperative La Coop fédérée, one of the project shareholders, has agreed to purchase some 500,000 mt per year of urea for distribution across the company’s retail network in Canada and a number of U.S. states.
In January 2014 IFFCO Canada signed with Ganotec Inc., one of North America’s largest construction companies in the industrial and petrochemical sectors, to finalize project cost estimates and propose an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the facility. IFFCO Canada also reported in January that it had responded to a TransCanada PipeLines invitation to bid for transport capacity for natural gas for the facility. Maire Tecnimont of Italy, through their subsidiary Stamicarbon BV, has been selected as urea process technology provider and integrator for the facility. Ammonia process technology will be supplied by the U.S. company KBR.
“Our focus now is on project financing which, once finalized, will pave the way for construction of the industrial complex to commence,” Gupta said. “That said, work on the project continues to progress, the business environment remains favourable, and we are confident that the plant will be ready for commissioning in 2017.”
Founded in 2012, IFFCO Canada Enterprise Ltd. is a partnership between Coop fédérée and IFFCO, an agricultural cooperative based in India. In January 2013 the company acquired the land for the proposed fertilizer plant, touting the central Quebec location in Bécancour as having land, rail, and water access that would allow distribution across North America and also for export markets via the location’s deep water port facilities.