Mitsubishi leads $1bn Russian project to build ammonia/methanol plant
12 Nov 2010
Large-scale urea fertiliser plant construction, jointly with Sojitz, CNCEC
Tokyo – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), Sojitz Corp. of Japan and China National Chemical Engineering Corp. (CNCEC), have won an order from Joint Stock Company Ammoni of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation, to construct a large-scale urea fertiliser plant capable of producing ammonia and methanol concurrently.
The contract, which will exceed $1 billion in total, will be the first large-scale fertiliser plant construction project in Russia in 20 years. Located in Mendeleevsk, Tatarstan, about 1,000km east of Moscow, it will be one of the world’s largest plants capable of concurrently producing ammonia and methanol from natural gas.
The plant will have a capacity to produce 2,050 mtpd (metric tons per day) of ammonia, or 1,382 mtpd of ammonia and 668 mtpd of methanol in the case of concurrent production.
The facility will employ process technologies from Haldor Topsøe A/S of Denmark, Saipem SpA of Italy, and Uhde Fertilizer Technology BV of the Netherlands. The plant is slated to go on-stream in 2015.
The order contract calls for plant engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), which is rare among contracts involving Russian projects.
MHI, as leader of the consortium, will be responsible for basic and detailed design work, equipment procurement and dispatch of technical advisors for installation and test operation.
Sojitz will handle coordination between related parties and transport within Russia, leveraging its business experiences and track records in Russia.
The Chinese state-controlled construction and engineering firm CNCEC will take charge of construction work.
Demand for fertiliser is expected to continue expanding steadily worldwide due to rising food production in response to global population growth.
In Russia, the world’s largest natural gas producer, interest in fertiliser production is increasing as the country seeks higher value from its natural gas resources and pursues advances in industrial development and agriculture. The fertiliser plant construction project in Tatarstan is in line with these initiatives.
According to MHI and Sojitz, the operational track record at a concurrent production plant in Malaysia, which was built by MHI, as well as Sojitz’s cooperative relationship with Tatarstan, contributed largely to the award.
Russia is presently seeing demand rise for replacement of fertiliser plants that were constructed 20-30 years ago.
MHI and Sojitz are seeking an increased presence in the fertiliser plant market, while also targeting orders, both in Russia and worldwide, in the fields of synthetic gas and petrochemicals as well.
