en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 12, Algeria's national oil and gas company Sonatrach and the Algerian Fertilizer Company (AFC) respectively signed two EPC contracts with Italy's Saipem and China Harbour Engineering Company to advance the construction of Phase I of the integrated phosphate project. The contracts cover phosphate mining and beneficiation, fertilizer production facilities, and export supporting works at the Port of Annaba. Specific amounts and performance periods were not disclosed.
The EPC contract awarded to Saipem involves the Bled El Hadba mining area in the Bir El Ater region of Tébessa Province, as well as the Oued El Keberit industrial zone in Souk Ahras Province. The scope of work includes phosphate mining and beneficiation facilities, phosphate and nitrogen fertilizer production units, and the utilities and auxiliary facilities required to sustain the operation of the industrial complex.
Phase I will involve the construction of a run-of-mine mining and beneficiation complex at Bled El Hadba, with a designed run-of-mine mining capacity of 5.5 million tons per year and a phosphate concentrate production capacity of 3.2 million tons per year. After beneficiation, the ore will enter the chemical processing stage, providing feedstock for downstream phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizer production.
The Oued El Keberit industrial complex will be equipped with units for intermediate products such as sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and ammonia, achieving an annual production capacity of 2.4 million tons of phosphate fertilizers and 570,000 tons of urea. The project will also utilize natural gas to produce the feedstock required for nitrogen fertilizers, forming an integrated industrial chain covering phosphate mining, beneficiation, intermediate chemicals, and finished fertilizer production.
China Harbour Engineering Company was awarded the second EPC contract, responsible for the construction of supporting facilities at the Port of Annaba. These facilities will handle the storage, transportation, and export of the project's remaining fertilizer products, linking the inland mining and fertilizer production operations with the port's outbound shipping system. This announcement did not specify the berth scale, storage capacity, or loading and unloading system configuration for the port works.
The project entered the competitive dual front-end engineering design phase in 2025. That year, Saipem was awarded the FEED contract by Sonatrach, with the design scope covering the Bled El Hadba mining facilities, the Oued El Keberit processing units, the upgrade of the Port of Annaba, and spur-line works connecting the mining area, industrial zone, and the main railway line. After comparing two technical and economic options, Sonatrach has now awarded the EPC contract for the mine and fertilizer facilities to Saipem.
The previously announced long-term plan for the full project envisages mining approximately 10 million tons of phosphate rock per year and producing approximately 6 million tons of fertilizers per year. The contracts signed this time correspond to Phase I, with confirmed capacities of 3.2 million tons of phosphate concentrate, 2.4 million tons of phosphate fertilizers, and 570,000 tons of urea per year. The signing of the two EPC contracts moves Phase I from the engineering design and option comparison stage into the project implementation preparation stage.
