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| September 21, 2004 No.1017 | ||
| MHI Receives Fertilizer Plant Order from Oman -- For Sohar Fertiliser Complex -- |
| Tokyo, September 21, 2004 -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), with support by Sojitz Corporation, has received an order from Sohar International Urea & Chemical Industries S.A.O.C. (SIUCI) to construct a fertilizer complex at Sohar. The contract will be officially signed soon. The order, in the amount of approximately US$500 million, marks MHI's first plant consignment in the Sultanate of Oman. The facility is scheduled to commence commercial operation in the first quarter of 2008. |
The complex will comprise a 2,000 mtpd (metric tons per day) ammonia production plant, a 3,500 mtpd urea production and granulation plant, and supporting facilities. It will initially produce ammonia from natural gas, and the entire ammonia output will be converted to urea for producing granular urea, the end product to be used as fertilizer. The plants will adopt process technologies from Haldor Tops?e A/S of Denmark, Snamprogetti S.p.A. of Italy, and Yara Fertilizer Technology B.V. of Belgium. The plant will be located within the Sohar Industrial Area, approximately 260 kilometers northwest of Muscat, the capital. The port and infrastructure of the Sohar site was developed through an untied loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). SIUCI is a company newly established for this fertilizer production project by the Suhail Bahwan Group, one of Oman's largest business groups. To cover the costs of the fertilizer complex project, a financing arrangement is being considered whereby export credit would be furnished by JBIC and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). If the funding plan goes through, this will mark the first project financing of a urea production complex using Japanese official export credit. MHI has completed six large-scale ammonia/urea plant construction projects overseas in the past 15 years. The latest order from Oman is seen as a reflection of SIUCI's strong evaluation of the company's delivery record and technological expertise in this area. Granular urea is used as fertilizer worldwide because it does not leave harmful substances after consumption and tends to remain in the soil, thus making it resistant to washing away. Demand is expected to increase going forward as food production expands in response to population growth. In this connection, a second-phase ammonia/urea plant expansion project is already in the SIUCI's plan, and MHI looks forward to the project's future development. On the strength of this large-scale order from Oman, MHI will further enhance its presence in the Middle East and strengthen its marketing activities for chemical plants in the region. # # #
About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global heavy machinery manufacturers, with consolidated sales of 2,593 billion yen (US$21.6 billion) in fiscal 2002 (year ended March 31, 2003). MHI's diverse lineup of products and services encompasses shipbuilding, steel structures, power plants, chemical plants, steel plants, environmental equipment, industrial and general machinery, aircraft, space rocketry and air-conditioning systems. For more information, please visit the MHI website (http://www.mhi.co.jp). PRESS CONTACT: Hideo Ikuno: h.ikuno@daiya-pr.co.jp Tel: +813-6716-5277, Fax: +813-6716-5929 Daiya PR (in charge of public relations for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.) |
