Cairo - OCI N.V.’s wholly-owned subsidiary Iowa Fertilizer Company
(IFCo), a Greenfield nitrogen fertilizer plant located in Lee County,
has announced that its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)
Contractor, the OCI Construction Group (OCIC), has awarded a
construction contract valued in excess of US$ 60 million to Matrix
Service Inc.
The contract requires the engineering, fabrication, and erection of
the tank structures for two double containment ammonia storage tanks and
three urea ammonium nitrate storage tanks, to be located within the
boundary of the IFCo plant facilities. Consistent with IFCo’s commitment
to maximizing local job creation, Matrix Service Inc. has stated that
the firm will spend an estimated 20% of the total contract value on
direct expenditures in the Southeastern Iowa economy. Matrix Service
Inc. will recruit local talent using Iowa’s Workforce Development, the
state’s employment security agency, and provide work opportunities for
various local businesses including surveying, concrete supply,
construction and consumables, tank painting and insulation, reinforcing
steel supply and fabrication, among other goods and services.
Furthermore, Matrix Service Inc. is proposing a training program to
recruit local Southeast Iowa welders, at no cost to local employees,
providing the foundation for a full-time career after the IFCo tanks are
complete.
IFCo is a Greenfield nitrogen fertilizer complex that is currently
under construction. The plant will produce up to 2 million metric tons
per annum of nitrogen fertilizers, including ammonia, urea, and urea
ammonium nitrate (UAN), as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). IFCo will
be the first world scale natural gas-based fertilizer plant built in
the United States in nearly 25 years and will help reduce the United
States’ dependency on imported fertilizers.
Matrix Service Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Matrix Service
Company. Matrix Service Company provides engineering, fabrication,
construction and maintenance services to Electrical Infrastructure, Oil
Gas & Chemical, Storage Solutions and Industrial markets. The
Company is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with regional operating
facilities in the United States and Canada.
This award represents the fourth in a series of IFCo contracts
awarded to engineering and construction companies, with a sizeable Iowa
labor component, over the past four months. During the fourth quarter of
2012, The Weitz Company, a Des Moines-based general contractor, was
awarded the civil works package; Stanley Consultants, a
Muscatine-based consulting engineering firm, was awarded the engineering
package for Balance of Plant, Buildings and Utilities; and McAninch
Corporation, a Des Moines-based earthmoving contractor, was awarded the
earthworks package.
Osama Bishai, Chief Operating Officer of the OCI Construction Group
commented: “We are pleased that one of the last outstanding major
packages for IFCo has been awarded to Matrix Service Inc., a national
leader in tank construction and liquid storage. Both OCI N.V. and Matrix
Service Inc. are committed to maximizing job creation in the state of
Iowa and this construction contract award is a testament to that
commitment. The ammonia storage tank package award is a key milestone in
the construction schedule of the project with is scheduled to start
production in late 2015.”
The ammonia tank will be ready for Cool Down February 2015, in time for IFCo’s scheduled commissioning date
