Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), jointly with APEX Energy Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia, and PT Rekayasa Industri (REKIND) in Indonesia, has received an order from PETRONAS Chemical Fertilizer Sabah Sdn. Bhd. (PCFSSB) for a project to construct a large-scale ammonia/urea fertilizer plant. PCFSSB is a subsidiary of PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), which is an affiliate company of PETRONAS, the national oil company of Malaysia.
The contract was signed today in Malaysia. The plant will be the first large-scale fertilizer plant order from Malaysia in 15 years since1996 when MHI received an order from PETRONAS.
The new urea fertilizer plant will be built in Sipitang, approximately 145 kilometers southwest of Kota Kitabalu, the mercantile city in Sabah State on the Island of Borneo. Using natural gas as its feedstock, the plant will have a capacity to produce 2,100 mtpd (metric tons per day) of ammonia and 3,850 mtpd of urea fertilizer.
It will adopt process technologies from Haldor TopsΦe A/S of Denmark, Saipem S.p.A. of Italy, and Uhde Fertilizer Technology B.V. of the Netherlands. The plant is slated to go into production in 2015.
The order calls for plant engineering, procurement and construction (EPC). MHI, as leader of the consortium, will be responsible for the basic and detailed design work, the procurement of equipment and the dispatch of technical advisors for installation and test operation. APEX Energy and REKIND will take charge of a portion of the equipment procurement and construction work.
PCFSSB is a company selected by PCG to implement the fertilizer plant construction project and its operation after completion. APEX Energy is a construction company, which locates its head office in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. REKIND is a plant engineering company headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Sabah State of Malaysia, which has prospered as a tourist destination and timber supply area, is abundant in natural gas and increasing its interest in fertilizer production as the State seeks higher value from its natural gas resources and pursues advances in industrial development and agriculture. The fertilizer plant construction project is in line with these initiatives.
MHI received an order in 1996 and delivered an ammonia/urea fertilizer production plant to PETRONAS Fertilizer (Kedah) Sdn. Bhd., PF(K)SB, a subsidiary of PETRONAS, in 1999. The high evaluation made by PETRONAS of the operational track record of the PF(K)SB's plant is believed to have led to this new project.
The demand for fertilizer is expected to continue expanding steadily due to rising food production needs in response to global population growth.
In Asia in particular, demand for fertilizer plants is increasing for the replacement of old plants. MHI, building on the strength of this latest large-scale order, now looks to conduct aggressive marketing activities in a quest to boost its presence in the fertilizer plant market in Asia while also targeting orders worldwide in the fields of synthetic gas and petrochemicals.
