Indorama’s fertilizer plant starts operation

The Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited (IEFCL) says it has completed the installation of its fertilizer plant in Eleme, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The plant would soon begin the production of fertilizer to serve Nigeria and the international community in earnest, according to a statement from the company.
The plant by the IEFCL, a sister company to Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals, is designed to produce 1.4 million metric tons of the synthetic nutrients product annually.
The Project Director, Uptal Chatterjee, said several critical sections of the plant had gone through pre-commissioning, commissioning and test-run, leading to the inauguration in the  first quarter of 2016.
He added: “An 83-kilometer gas pipeline to supply natural gas liquid (NGL) feedstock and a port terminal at Onne port complex, also in Port Harcourt, have also been completed to complement the plant.
“The  project components include 2,300 MTPD Ammonia plant, 4,000 MTPD Urea granulation plant with associated offsite and utilities,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer of the company, Manish Mundra, assured that it would boost the agricultural sector, provide needed fertilizer for farmers across the country, improve crop yield and create numerous employment opportunities.
“The fertilizer project is a whopping UDS1.4 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Indorama Corporation, funded majorly by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank and some Nigerian banks. It is one of Nigeria’s biggest FDIs in the downstream sector of the nation’s economy,” he said.
Mundra noted also that fertilizer was one of the indicators once itemized by the World Bank as a key element in boosting agricultural production in Nigeria.