By A. Kapini
Dangote Fertilizer Limited has begun to pre-test before the inauguration of its $2 billion Granulated Urea Fertilizer complex located in the Dangote Free Zone.
With a capacity of three million tonnes per annum, the plant is considered as the biggest project in the fertilizer industry’s history in the world. Siapem of Italy is the engineering, procurement and supervision (EPS) contractor for the project, while Tata Consulting Engineers of India is the project management consultants (PMC) for the project.
A press release issued by Dangote Group in Lagos, Nigeria, on 27 February sated that several critical sections of the plant are going through various stages of test-run. Virtually all the section of the plant such as Central Control Room, Ammonia and Urea Bulk Storage, Cooling Tower, Power Generator Plant and Granulation Plant, have been completed and are undergoing pre-testing.
Already, Dangote Fertilizer has started receiving gas supply from the Nigerian Gas Company and Chevron Nigeria Limited under the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement to supply 70 million standard cubic feet per day (Scf/d) of natural gas to Dangote Fertilizer Limited.
The project, which will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the construction and related fields, will provide a major boost to the agricultural sector by significantly reducing the importation of fertilizer in Nigeria, and ultimately removing the need for imports when the plant is operating fully.
Group Executive Director for Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects of Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, said Nigeria would be able to save $500 billion from import substitution and provide $400 million from exports of products from the fertilizer plant.
“Thus, the supply of fertilizer from the plant, will be enough for the Nigerian market and neighbouring countries,” he said.
Edwin said: “I am happy that by the time our plant is fully commissioned, the country will become self-sufficient in fertilizer production and even have the capacity to export the products to other African countries. Right now, farmers are forced to utilise whatever fertilizer that is available as they have no choice, but we need to know that the fertilizer that will work in one State may not be suitable in another State, as they may not have the same soil type and composition. The same fertilizer you use for sorghum may not be the fertilizer you will use for sugar cane.”
Edwin concluded: “The management of the complex are confident that the fertilizer business will deliver reasonable profit to the company and its shareholders as it is projected that population growth and the need for food production will jack up the consumption of Urea fertilizer beginning from 2020 when production of the product would have commenced in earnest.
“The current consumption of Urea, estimated at a dismal 700,000 tonnes per annum by Nigerian farmers, is said to be due to very poor usage and is believed to be the cause of poor product yield, which threatens food security in the country.
“By [the end of] 2020, Nigerian population is projected to increase to about 207 million which would lead to increased food production. Estimates point out that around five million tonnes of fertilizer are required per year in Nigeria in the next five to seven years bifurcated into 3.5 million tonnes of Urea and 1.5 million tonnes of NPK while current production levels in Nigeria were at 1.6 million tonnes by 2019.”
Credit: APO
