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Fertilizer International 527 Jul-Aug 2025

7 July 2025

Sonatrach awards Saipem phosphate project FEED contract

ALGERIA

Sonatrach awards Saipem phosphate project FEED contract

Italy’s Saipem has won a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract from Sonatrach for an integrated phosphate fertilizer project in Algeria.

The contract was awarded through a dual competitive process, enabling the design work to be conducted by both Saipem and a competitor company. Sonatrach will assess and compare the two FEED options from both parties, select the best technical and economic design, and then proceed with the direct award of an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to execute the project.

The FEED contract covers front-end services for the complete engineering design of a new fertilizer complex. This includes phosphate mining infrastructure in the Bled El Hadba area, together with process and ancillary units supporting fertiliser production in the Oued Keberit area. The scope of work also includes upgrading Annaba port for phosphate exports and construction of railway spurs connecting mining and production plants to the main rail line.

This is Algeria’s first integrated phosphate project encompassing both ore mining and fertilizer production. Once operational, the project will have the capacity to extract 10 million tonnes of phosphate rock and produce six million tonnes of phosphate fertilizers annually.

Saipem has been operating in Algeria since 1968, developing hydrocarbon and transport infrastructure and power generation plants,

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