Qatar Fertiliser Company (Qafco) has signed new deals and renewed existing ones to maintain its position as one of the world’s leading suppliers of ammonia and urea.

One of the deals is with Jordan’s Phosphate Mines Company under which Qafco will supply the Jordanian company with 130,000 tonnes of ammonia per year for five years.
Qafco’s ammonia exports in 2005 were 465,000 tonnes, less by 1.6 per cent than what was budgeted, but still a marginal improvement of 0.23 per cent over 2004. India was the main market for Qafco’s ammonia, accounting for 65 per cent of the export. Jordan was second with 23 per cent, followed by the US and South Korea at 6 per cent each.
Qafco’s urea exports for 2005 reached 2.9 million tonnes, up 7.2 per cent over the budget target and 38.9 per cent in excess of the 2004 figure. The US was the main importer of Qafco urea, accounting for 28 per cent of the company’s exports. Thailand imported 9 per cent, South Africa 8 per cent, the Philippines and India 5 per cent each with a number of other countries following with smaller quantities. Qafco has an agreement with the Australian company Incitec Pivot Ltd for the supply of 500,000 tpy of urea to Australia. Under another major deal, Qafco supplied 1000,0000 tpy of urea to Yara Asia Ltd and will supply the same quantity this year. The deal is for the New Zealand market. The quantity will gradually rise to 240,000 tpy in the period 2007-2009. The company also signed a supply agreement with Yara Belgium Ltd for the distribution of 100,000 tonnes of urea annually in the markets of France, Spain and Italy. This happens to be Qafco’s first deal for the marketing of its products in Europe. The quantities supplied under this contract will rise gradually to 200,000 tpy over the next few years.
Generally strong fertiliser prices helped Qafco realise a net profit of QR1.8 billion in 2005, outstripping the budgeted target by 88.6 per cent and the previous year’s figure by 82 per cent. As well as favourable market conditions, cost-cutting measures contributed to the higher profits.
World markets can expect to receive higher supplies following an announcement from the Qafco management that it was preparing for Qafco-5.
A letter of intent has been signed between Qatar Petroleum (QP), Yara International and Qafco for constructing a fifth production train which Qafco says will be “a quantum leap in terms of production volume as well as technology.”
Qafco-5 facilities will include an ammonia plant and a urea plant, both with a daily production capacity of 3,500 tonnes, and a number of support utilities. The project is scheduled for completion in 2010.
Uhde of Germany and Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) of the US will work on two main packages of the project. Uhde has been assigned the process plant while CB&I will be in charge of the offsite facilities and utilities. The planned expansion will add 1.1 million tonnes of ammonia and 1.1 million tonnes of urea to the company’s annual production capacity, thereby boosting ammonia production by 55 per cent o 3.1 million tonnes per year and urea production by 40 per cent to 4 million tonnes annually.
Al Sowaidi has estimated the cost of the project at $600 million. Qafco is also revamping its Qafco-1 facilities.
Meanwhile, Qafco’s urea formaldehyde-85 plant achieved a record production of 30,129 tonnes in 2005, overtaking the previous year’s figure by 23 per cent.  Some 25,039 tonnes of the output was used by Qafco plants, leaving the surplus to be shipped by tanker trucks to neighbouring states.
The profit generated by the plant reached QR10.08 million in 2005. Urea formaldehyde 85, which earlier used to be imported, is an anti-caking agent with which urea is treated to prevent lumping, improve product hardness and ensure it is free-flowing. It has several other uses.
The plant is state-of-the-art and has virtually no adverse impact on the environment, Al Sowaidi said.