Senegal aims to supply fertiliser to the sub-region and several western countries through a urea plant currently under construction.
The West African nation imports around 100,000 tonnes of urea per year.
This nitrogenous fertiliser is used in agriculture to grow cereals such as rice and wheat, two staple foods for the local population. To reverse the balance of imports of this chemical, Petrosen Trading & Services, Senegal’s state-owned oil company, has announced the results of its two studies for a project to build a urea plant over the next five years.
The studies include a market study and a study of the carbon capture potential of the plant, which could be operational in 2029.
The project, known as the Senegal Fertilizer Company (SEFCO), aims to use gas discovered off the coast of Senegal locally to achieve self-sufficiency in urea and make better use of its phosphate, in particular by formulating mixed NPK fertilisers, chemical fertilisers that are short of the elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, according to a joint statement from Petrosen and Manufacturing Africa seen by APA on Tuesday.
The research was carried out with the support and expertise of the Manufacturing Africa consortium, a UK government programme.
According to Petrosen, the research confirms its ambition to reverse Senegal’s trade balance in urea and NPK fertilisers.
The oil company notes that the market study confirms the competitiveness of the future SEFCO plant in relation to other global urea exporters. Ultimately, Petrosen “will supply markets in the West African sub-region (Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana), Europe as well as the United States and Brazil, two of the world’s largest importers of urea”.
The second study estimated that nearly 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide could be captured over the thirty years of the plant’s operation, “confirming the sustainable approach of the Urea-SEFCO project”.
The Co2 captured using world-class technologies could be reused in food preservation, the agro-food industry (refrigeration, brewing) or construction, say heads of the two organisations.
ODL/ac/lb/as/APA