Contractors have submitted bids to QatarEnergy for a planned project to expand its low-carbon ammonia and urea output capacity by building a new production complex in Qatar’s Mesaieed Industrial City.

The planned blue ammonia and urea production facility will have a total output capacity of 6.4 million tonnes a year (t/y) and is understood to be the eighth expansion phase of QatarEnergy’s fertiliser production complex located in Mesaieed, MEED reported last April.

QatarEnergy issued the main tender for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the blue ammonia and urea production facility expansion project in July last year. Prior to that, the Qatari state enterprise held a meeting with contractors last March to lay out plans for the project, MEED previously reported.

The state energy giant had set an initial deadline of 15 January for the submission of bids for the project, which it then extended several times until 15 April, 31 May, 15 June and then to 29 June. Contractors submitted their proposals by that final deadline, according to sources.

The following contractors, among others, are understood to have been invited by QatarEnergy to bid for the blue ammonia and urea production facility expansion project:

• Tecnimont (Italy) / Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
• Samsung E&A (South Korea) / Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Germany) / Consolidated Contractors Company (Lebanon)
• Saipem (Italy) / CTCI (Taiwan) / CC7 (China)

Licensed technologies are critical to the facility’s operations, so QatarEnergy has stipulated that contractors include technology providers in the bidding process.

QatarEnergy was earlier expected to take a final investment decision on the project in the second quarter of 2026 and award the EPC contract in the third quarter. With the bid submission deadline delayed until the end of May it remains to be seen when the state enterprise achieves FID on the project.

The basic scope of EPC works on the blue ammonia and urea production facility expansion project is understood to include the following:

• Urea and ammonia plants to produce 6.4 million t/y of urea
• Urea formaldehyde plants
• Nitrogen production units
• Power unit for the supply of 400MW
• Units for the supply of 415 million cubic feet a day of sweet gas
• Extension and additional bulk halls storage for urea
• Export conveyors to Jetty 2
• Three new urea berths on Jetty 2
• New ammonia tank with a storage capacity of 30,000 metric tonnes
• Relocation of ammonia loading facilities
• Desalination plant
• Seawater supply and return
• Logistics and office buildings

In September 2024, QatarEnergy announced its aim to build four new urea production lines at Mesaieed Industrial City, increasing Qatar’s urea output capacity by 106%.

The production lines will raise Qatar’s production of urea – a key ingredient in fertilisers – from 6 million t/y to more than 12.4 million t/y.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs and president and CEO of QatarEnergy, said the first production line will enter operations before 2030.

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“When we looked at the market for urea in the future, with the growth of humanity today, with 1.5-2 billion people that will be joining us in the next 20-30 years, the urea requirement for food production will be exponentially increasing,” Al-Kaabi said at the time.

“Developing this project in Mesaieed Industrial City will ensure the optimum utilisation of the excellent existing infrastructure for the petrochemicals and fertiliser industries, including the city’s export port, which is one of the largest fertiliser and petrochemicals export facilities in the [Middle East and North Africa] region.

“It will also establish Mesaieed as the urea production capital of the world,” he added.

The planned expansion of its blue ammonia and urea production capacity comes as QatarEnergy makes progress on its estimated $1.2bn Ammonia-7 project.

The under-construction facility in Mesaieed will have a capacity of 1.2 million t/y of blue ammonia, making it the world’s largest blue ammonia facility.

The complex will also have an additional unit for carbon dioxide injection and storage, with a capacity of 1.5 million t/y. QatarEnergy will supply the new plant with more than 35MW of electricity from the solar power plant under construction in Mesaieed Industrial City.

QatarEnergy began work on the blue ammonia production project in September 2022, when its subsidiaries Qatar Fertiliser Company (Qafco) and QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions signed an agreement to develop the complex.

In addition to signing the agreement for the development of the facility, the operators also formally awarded the project’s EPC contract to a consortium of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Uhde and Greece/Lebanon-headquartered Consolidated Contractors Company.

The value of the EPC contract is $1bn, QatarEnergy previously said.

The facility is due to start operations this year and will be operated by Qafco as part of its integrated facilities.