Jordan’s Arab Fertilisers & Chemicals Industries Company (Kemapco) has put its planned $50m nitrous oxide emissions reduction project on hold until at 2011 at the earliest.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the facility, which will reduce the amount of nitrous oxide in products manufactured at Kemapco’s Aqaba nitric acid complex, was scheduled to be awarded by the end of June, a source close to the project says.

“The project is not being continued at the moment,” the source says. “It is on hold, but Kemapco will be looking at this again later this year with a view to starting it up again in 2011 although Kemapco would be willing to talk to contractors wanting to participate in the project.”

Should the project move ahead the winning contractor would design, build, operate and maintain the facility. The contractor will also be expected to sell the certified emissions reductions the project would create.

Under the Kyoto Protocol certified emissions reductions, or carbon credits, can be traded to companies, which want to offset emissions as part of the initiative to reduce greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere.