Descon submitted the lowest price for the work when commercial bids were made in May, and was subsequently recommended for the job. It beat competition from groups led by Germany's Uhde and Italy's Tecnimont (MEED 8:6:07).

The lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract covers the conversion of 90,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of ammonia to urea and the supply of 250,000 t/y of urea for the downstream melamine plant planned by Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge).

The work includes the installation of a 350-tonne-a-day (t/d) carbon dioxide recovery unit and a 2,500-t/d granulation unit.

Swiss-based Casale Group is the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contractor for the urea facility. The carbon dioxide recovery unit FEED has been carried out by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Uhde is the FEED contractor and technology provider for the granulation plant. Australia's WorleyParsons is the project management consultant (MEED 25:5:07).