Company News Dec 2, 2002 1:00 AM
Major contract worth more than US $500 million for Uhde from Oman
Uhde GmbH signed a letter of appointment (Contract promise) with Sohar International Urea & Chemical Industries in Muscat, the capital of Oman, to build a turnkey large-scale fertiliser complex on the east coast of the Arabian peninsula. This is Uhde`s second biggest contract in its over 80 year history.
The plants will be located at a newly created industrial site in Sohar, about 200 kilometres to the north-west of the capital.
The complex will comprise an ammonia plant and a urea plant with respective capacities of 2,000 and 3,500 tonnes per day. The complex is being built on a greenfield site and will include all appurtenant offsites such as a power generation unit, seawater cooling system, desalination plant, ammonia and urea storage facilities. The natural gas extracted in Oman will be used as feedstock. Uhde is responsible for the entire basic and detail engineering, supply of equipment, construction work and plant commissioning.
The end product urea will be exported worldwide as a nitrogenous fertiliser.
Financing of 30% of this project is intended by equity capital from the project company Sohar International Urea & Chemical Industries and 70% through a limited recourse financing from Germany under Hermes cover. The project company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the group of companies owned by the leading Omani businessman Sheikh Suhail Salem Bahwan.
Uhde will base the ammonia plant on its proprietary process, thus guaranteeing a modern energetically efficient, environment-friendly plant concept. The urea plant will be constructed under licence from Stamicarbon, Holland and the granulation unit will be based on Belgium-based Hydro Fertilizer Technology`s process. This granulation process is especially environment-friendly and is characterised by granules of a good consistency and hardness.
The project will be completed 35 months after the effective date of the contract.
A similar chemical complex is currently being built by Uhde in Qatar, a neighbouring country of Oman.
Having secured this large-scale contract against the Italo-Japanese consortium of Snamprogetti, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Japanese company Toyo Engineering, Uhde GmbH is one of the world leader in the field of the construction of large-scale fertiliser plants.
Uhde is a company in the Technologies segment of the ThyssenKrupp Group and has a workforce of 3,500 employees worldwide. The company`s activities focus on the design and construction of chemical and other industrial plants in the following fields: fertilisers, organic chemicals and plastics, electrolysis, oil gas,refining and pharmaceuticals.
The Arab Sultanate of Oman is located in the south east of the Arab Peninsula and has a population of 2.6 million. Said country has a surface of 309 000 square kilometres, i.e. about three times the surface of Bavaria. Oman`s neighbouring countries are: in the north the United Arab Emirates, in the north west Saudi-Arabia and in the south Yemen. Oman`s coast of approx. 2100 km length is formed by the Arab Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. The capital Muscat has a population of over 600 000 and more than 20 % of the population come from foreign countries such as Pakistan, India, Iran and Somalia. The country is a monarchy and governed by Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.
The products that constitute the major part of the country`s exports are petroleum, natural gas, copper, marble, fish and textiles, 80% of the export earnings accounting for petroleum. About 50% of the population today work in the agricultural and fishing sectors. The major industries are oil refining, gas production, cement production and exploitation of copper resources.
Contact:
Horst Gieseler
Public Relations
Uhde GmbH
Phone +49 (231) 547 2035
Fax +49 (231) 547 2628
E-Mail: gieselerH@tkt-uhde.thyssenkrupp.com