EFERT completes largest-ever EnVen plant turnaround costing $50m

LAHORE: Engro Fertilizers has completed it largest-ever, 55-day-long scheduled maintenance activity of the EnVen Plant, as planned on June 18, 2024, a statement said on Saturday.

At peak, more than 6,000 people were engaged round-the-clock at the plant site for these turnaround activities.

Engro Fertilizers has invested approximately $50 million in the turnaround to improve its reliability and operational efficiency.

According to CEO of Engro Fertilizers Ali Rathore, “The safe and successful completion of this major turnaround, despite extreme weather conditions, showcases the engineering excellence of the Engro Fertilizers team in executing large-scale projects within planned schedules and budgets, while prioritizing the safety of everyone involved in the activity.”

He added that “these critical projects were executed in-house by our talented engineers using innovative techniques and global best practices of safety and quality.”

“The meticulous planning and execution ensured that the availability of urea to our hardworking farmers was not impacted, demonstrating the entire Engro Fertilizers team’s firm commitment to our purpose of enabling the food security of Pakistan.”

In his statement, the CEO said: “We would like to thank our employees, contractors, global technical partners, local administration, and all other key stakeholders for their seamless support and guidance that contributed to the success of this major turnaround.”

Established in 2011 with an investment of $1.1 billion, the EnVen Plant has an annual production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes and is the most energy efficient fertilizer plant in Pakistan, with the lowest consumption of gas per tonne of urea.

The project scope of the turnaround included over 5,000 technical activities, including the first-ever replacement of the waste heat boiler, overhaul of the furnace convection section, ammonia storage tank inspection and a comprehensive overhaul of six major turbo trains and gas turbines.

In the outgoing financial year, the agriculture sector showed excellent growth.

Farm nutrients play a major role in the better protection of various crops. The availability of fertilizer was ample -- especially after imports -- but its prices saw an upward trend.

According to the recently released Pakistan Economic Survey, fertilizer, one of the key inputs in determining crop productivity, contributes an average of 30 to 50 per cent towards crop yield.

The share of fertilizers in the cost of production of major crops in Pakistan is 10 to 15 per cent.

Urea and Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) are the major fertilizers used in Pakistan.

Overall, domestic production of fertilizers during FY2024 (July-March) increased by 17.3 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, according to the survey.

The total availability of urea during Kharif 2023 was about 3,397,000 tonnes, comprising 69,000 tonnes of opening inventory, and 3,328,000 tonnes of domestic production.

Total urea offtake was about 3,322,000 tonnes, leaving an inventory of 77,000 tonnes for Rabi 2023-24.

Rabi 2023-24 started with an opening inventory of 77,000 tonnes of urea. Domestic production was estimated around 3,401,000 tonnes and 220,000 tonnes of imports.