Italian engineering giant Saipem has secured two major contracts from Dangote Fertilizer, expanding the company’s role in Africa’s fast-growing fertilizer sector and building on Dangote’s sweeping plans to dominate global urea production.
In a statement, Saipem said it will provide technical know-how and licensing for six new urea units – four in Nigeria and two in Ethiopia – alongside basic engineering and design services for the associated plants. The licenses cover Saipem’s proprietary Snamprogetti™ Urea technology.
Each urea unit will have a record capacity of 4,235 metric tons per day, which Saipem described as “the highest ever achieved worldwide.”
The new projects are part of Dangote’s industrial plan to build six integrated ammonia-urea complexes with a combined output of over 25,000 MTPD of urea, significantly expanding Africa’s production footprint. Dangote Fertilizer already operates Africa’s largest fertilizer facility in Lagos.
Saipem and Dangote Fertilizer have also signed a Letter of Intent for Saipem to carry out Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for a massive new urea complex in Gode, Ethiopia, being developed with the Ethiopian Investment Holdings. The proposed plant will produce 3 million tons of urea per year.
The win comes weeks after India’s Engineers India Limited (EIL) announced its appointment by the Dangote Group as project manager for the expansion of its fertilizer complex in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, adding four new production trains to what is already one of Africa’s largest urea plants.
Dangote Fertilizer announced plans to increase exports following Nigeria’s foreign-exchange reforms. The company has been pushing to position Nigeria as a top fertilizer exporter to global markets, including Brazil and India.
“With these new licensing and process-engineering contracts, Saipem consolidates its leadership in the fertilizer sector,” the company said, adding that its Snamprogetti™ technology has been installed in more than 140 operating units worldwide.
Saipem, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, operates in more than 50 countries and employs about 30,000 people. The company said the new partnership underscores its ability to deliver “high-efficiency, low-environmental-impact technological solutions” for large-scale industrial projects.
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