Food security is one of the great challenges of recent decades. Endangered first by the pandemic and then by recent conflicts, it is also one of the most critical issues in the path towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations for 2030.
Agriculture obviously plays a fundamental role in ensuring a greater and more sustainable level of food supply.
In this context, the project that Saipem - in joint venture with Clough, a Webuild Group company - is carrying out in Australia, on behalf of Perdaman Industries, takes on great importance: the construction of the largest urea plant in the world located on the remote coast of Western Australia. Through the use of the most advanced technologies, the plant will allow the production of a new generation of fertilisers with a reduced environmental impact, with important employment benefits and an active and positive involvement of indigenous and local communities.
The plant will be located on the Burrup Peninsula, 20 kilometres north of Karratha on the coast of Western Australia, approximately 1,500 kilometres north of Perth and will create two thousand jobs during its construction. Once completed in 2027, it will have a production capacity of over 2.3 million tonnes of urea per year and will therefore position itself as a low-cost urea supplier in the Asia-Pacific region and a major producer globally. Not surprisingly, the Western Australian Government has awarded the project of State Significance status.
Saipem boasts a unique experience and track record in the construction of complex urea and ammonia plants, to which this project is now added which will represent a global reference in terms of high energy efficiency and degree of modularisation. Furthermore, the fertilizer sector will experience an exceptional acceleration because of the new plant and, more in general, so will the global supply of agricultural products, which means it will be able to guarantee food stability for millions of people. This project, therefore, is also an example of how Saipem engineering is at the service of a sustainable future.