IRAN - Khorasan Fertiliser Complex.

Located at Bojnurd in the north-eastern province of Khorasan, this complex was formally inaugurated by then President Rafsanjani on July 3, 1996, following test production since May. It has the capacity to produce 330,000 t/y of ammonia and 495,000 t/y of urea. Original plans called for a capacity to produce 90,000 t/y of sulphur coated urea and 65,000 t/y of agricultural sulphur. Total investment in the project was IR1,000 bn ($571m), of which $500m was in hard currency. With this complex, Iran has become self-sufficient in nitrogenous fertilisers, saving the country $120m in hard currency per annum. The complex is fed with 560 MCM/year of gas piped 320 km from the Khangiran gas field and sulphur from the Sarakhs gas plant. Most of its output is consumed locally. In January 1997, Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC) warned that the complex may have to be shut down temporarily because of an alleged dispute with a distribution company, linked to the ministry of agriculture, which left storage facilities at Khorasan with surplus fertiliser amounting to 50,000 tons. One of the projects under the plan for 1989-94, the Khorasan complex was to be on stream by March 20, 1995, rather than in 1993 as first planned. Completion was delayed by financing problems. The obstacle was raising a $180m loan in hard currency. Building work began in early 1993. Khorasan Petrochemicals hired the UK unit of MW Kellogg as project manager and supplier of technology for the ammonia plant. Kellogg and the local Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Company (PIDEC) were the design and engineering contractors. Stamicarbon of the Netherlands was hired to do basic design and provide technology for the urea plant. But by mid-1993 NPC was unable to meet funding needs and local banks were unwilling to finance a project that would take years to pay off. The main contract, worth $385m, was awarded in January 1992 to Kellogg and a consortium of Tomen and Kawasaki to provide a major part of the financing.