The $138 million order was placed by the newly-formed Ciment Blanc d'Algerie, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCI. The new plant will meet local demand of 300,000 tonnes a year (t/y), with initial exports of about 250,000 t/y to markets in Africa, southern Europe and the US.

The greenfield plant, representing OCI's first venture into the white cement industry, will have capacity of 550,000 t/y and be located within 70 kilometres of major ports at Arzew, Oran and Mostaganem. OCI Algeria will be responsible for construction work, which will begin by mid-November for a period of 21 months, with FLS to provide the equipment.

Estimated project costs of $172.4 million will be financed through a 60:40 debt/equity split, with the debt to be provided by a syndication of international and leading local banks. Financial close is expected by the end of the year (MEED 24:6:05).

An FLS/OCI consortium in June completed the construction of a second production line at the M'Sila cement plant on behalf of OCI subsidiary Algerian Cement Company (ACC). The 2.5 million-t/y line, completed in a record time of 18 months, takes ACC's production of grey cement to 5 million t/y (MEED 30:1:05).

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