Qatar Fertiliser Company (Qafco) has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its $3.2bn expansion at Mesaieed to an Italian-South Korean consortium of Snamprogetti and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company.

The construction of the Qafco-5 production line will be completed in 38 months for a start-up early next year.
 
The contract was signed for Qafco by its chairman Abdulla H Salatt and for Italy’s Snamprogetti by its managing director and CEO, Bozzini Snamprogetti and for South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company by its president and CEO, Jong Soo Lee.

The facilities to be constructed include two ammonia plants and a urea plant. The project will boost Qafco’s annual ammonia output to 3.8 million tonnes and urea to 4.3 million tonnes.

The ammonia plants will have a total daily production capacity of 4,600 tonnes of ammonia (2,300 for each) and a urea plant with daily production capacity of 3,850 tonnes.