SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced on Monday that the consortium of their subsidiaries, SNC-Lavalin Europe BV and Jacobs' Delta Catalytic Saudi Arabia Ltd., has been awarded a US$5.7 million contract to provide advanced engineering services for the Saudi Arabian Mining Company's ("Ma'aden") Al-Jalamid Phosphate Project in Saudi Arabia.
The consortium's mandate is to design the Al-Jalamid phosphate mine, which Ma'aden expects will produce about 4.5 million tonnes of phosphate a year, and a world-scale integrated fetilizer complex. The fertilizer complex is designed to process the phosphate, and produce an estimated 2.9 million tonnes of diammonium phosphate per year, for use in commercial fertilzers.
"We have carried out a lot of the preliminary work on this project, so we were very happy to win the advanced engineering contract," said Pierre Duhaime, Executive Vice-President, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. "The fertilizer complex will house some of the largest chemical plants in commercial operation anywhere. Our global experience designing and building world-scale facilities, in this and other sectors, amply qualifies us for the job."
In supporting comments, Jacobs Group Vice-President Pete Evans added, "We are pleased to bring our special expertise in the areas of benefication and fertilizer production for this most strategic industrial project."
The fertilizer complex will be located at Ras Az Zawr, north of Al-Jubail Industrial City on the Arabian Gulf. The design includes three 4,150 tonnes per day (tpd) sulphuric acid plants, three 1,460 tpd phosphoric acid plants, one 2,000 tpd ammonia plant, and three 3,120 tpd diammonium phosphate plants, as well as a dedicated port for Panamax-sized ships of up to 60,000 tonnes.
Engineering has begun, and is expected to be finished by March 2005. (menareport.com)
