EuroChem has awarded a contract to Maire Tecnimont to design and construct an ammonia plant in Kingisepp, Russia.

Under the €660m contract, Tecnimont will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for a 2,700t per day ammonia plant, including utilities and offsites on a lump-sum turn-key basis.

The facility will incorporate technology developed by KBR.

Maire Tecnimont's subsidiaries Tecnimont and Tecnimont Russia will manage work under the contract. Tecnimont has already completed front-end engineering design for the project.

Maire Tecnimont CEO Pierroberto Folgiero said: "This contract will further strengthen our fruitful industrial cooperation with EuroChem, with a long-term spirit; its successful execution will best position Maire Tecnimont Group to collaborate on EuroChem's future investment road map globally."

EuroChem plans to finance the contract through a €575m loan from SACE, and available resources.

EuroChem CEO Dmitry Strezhnev said: "The project, based on the latest technology, will add new capacity to Russia, create new jobs and help EuroChem move towards its goal to become a top five global fertiliser producer."

Planned to be completed within 36 months, the Kingisepp project is said to be the first of five ammonia-urea projects.

In April, Eurochem, Maire Tecnimont and SACE signed a memorandum of understanding to develop five projects in the US, Kazakhstan and Russia in the next ten years.

The projects will be designed to produce five million tonnes of ammonia and 7.5 million tonnes of urea a year.