REUTERS (ALGIERS)-- According to APS news agency, Algeria's Sonatrach and Omani and Egyptian partners signed contracts with major construction companies on 14 April for two ammonia and urea projects worth a total of $4.5 billion. An Algerian-Omani joint venture called Al Aldjazairia Al Omania Lil Asmida signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract
with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build a factory costing $2.4 billion at Arzew, 600 kilometres (373 miles) west of the capital Algiers. The joint venture between Sonatrach and Suhail Bahwan Group Holding (SBGH) of Oman has said the plant will produce 4,000 tonnes of ammonia and 7,000 tonnes of urea per day. Algerian officials (NFI) say that the plant is due to come onstream in three and a half years (late 2011). APS added that a joint venture between Sonatrach and Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) signed an engineering and construction contract with Germany's Uhde, the plant engineering unit of ThyssenKrupp, also for an ammonia and urea plant at Arzew worth $2.16 billion. The joint venture, called Sorfert Algerie, plans to produce 4,400 tonnes a day of ammonia and 3,450 tonnes a day of urea. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL1476691620080414 (Reliability: 8)Analysis: It is highly likely that Algeria is investing heavily in petrochemicals in order to diversify the range of products for export and get more value from its energy supplies. The Algerian state-owned energy group, Sonatrach has discovered four new oil and gas condensates this past week, bringing their total finds to five for the year. Algeria pumps about 1.4 million barrels of oil per day and exports 62 billion cubic metres of gas a year, mostly to Europe. The existence of new Algerian Petrochemical sites will likely be a target of interest for terrorist attacks. The Al-Qaida Branch of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has a heavy presence in Algeria and regularly attacks Algerian governmental interests. (Analytic Confidence: 8.5)
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