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Fertilizer International 526 May-Jun 2025

6 May 2025

ATOME awards Casale $465 million EPC contract

PARAGUAY

ATOME awards Casale $465 million EPC contract

ATOME has signed a definitive engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Casale for its Villeta project in Paraguay.

The 260,000 t/a capacity project will produce low-carbon calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) and is the first of its kind in the Mercosur region. It will be powered using 100% renewable baseload hydroelectricity from the adjacent Itaipu dam.

“Once constructed, the Villeta project will service a developed and ready market in the heart of the largest food-producing region in the world, meeting critical demand for low-carbon fertilisers from the agriculture and food sectors,” ATOME said in a statement.

The $465 million, fixed-price, lump-sum contract commits Casale to completing the Villeta project and starting production within 38 months of the final investment decision (FID). ATOME is aiming to make the FID for the project in the first half of 2025.

The signing of the contract follows Casale’s appointment as EPC Contractor in November last year (Fertilizer International 524, p31) and the recent announcement of Hy24 as a major equity investor in the project (Fertilizer International 525, p10). Advanced engineering work has already started in Paraguay, according to ATOME, this being consistent with the current timeline for project start-up and the first sales of green fertiliser in 2028

ATOME and Casale at the latter company’s HQ, Lugano. Switzerland.
PHOTO: ATOME

Olivier Mussat, ATOME’s CEO, said: “ATOME is delighted to announce the signing of our EPC Contract with Casale, on time and on track to our project schedule. This underscores our ability to deliver final agreements and marks another milestone achieved as we advance to reach FID for the Villeta Project towards the end of H1 2025. Casale is a world leader in ammonia and fertiliser engineering, and I have every confidence in the team as the right partners to deliver our flagship project in Paraguay, the first green fertiliser facility of its kind.”

Federico Zardi, CEO of Casale, said: “We at Casale are immensely proud to be an integral part of ATOME’s world-first green fertiliser Villeta project in Paraguay. For over a decade, Casale has been advancing the development of CO2 emissions-reduction technologies in fertiliser production. Through these technological advancements, we are delivering an extremely optimized design at Villeta, setting a precedent for sustainable fertiliser production at costs that are competitive with, or even lower than, conventional ‘grey’ fertilisers, paving the way to a sustainable agricultural future.”

He continued: “This partnership reaffirms our role as pioneers in the industry, consistent with our historical trajectory and DNA. It is an honour to work alongside a company that is as committed to innovation and sustainability as we are, and we are confident in ATOME’s ability to execute on this project, successfully scaling and leading this first green fertiliser platform.”

The EPC contract forms a part of the total estimated cost of $625 million for the Villeta project.

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Market Outlook

l The market looks very tight through the end of the year, though some expect supply to improve in Q4. Prices are unlikely to ease in the coming weeks. l Woodside’s Beaumont New Ammonia Project is now 97% complete, and the producer expects production from the first train in late 2025. There is no information from Gulf Coast Ammonia on when to expect commercial production. l There was an absence of fresh confirmed business into northwest Europe. Still, producers with ammonia capacity in the region are expected to be maximising output given the favourable economics at current spot natural-gas prices at the Dutch TTF.

Price Trends

By the end of October the ammonia market was facing an acute shortage of spot tonnage, reflected in a $60/t jump in the Tampa price for November. The benchmark Tampa price increased for the sixth straight month to its highest since February 2023 as the global ammonia supply crunch deepened. The surge at Tampa was said to be driven by good demand in the US for direct application combined with a lack of supply. Contributing factors included Nutrien shutting down its nitrogen production in Trinidad, potentially removing around 85,000 tonnes/month from the market. So far, there is no suggestion that other producers in Trinidad will follow suit, and they may even benefit from a boost natural-gas supply given the Nutrien outage, although it is unclear whether the spare gas will be directed to ammonia as opposed to other demand sources.