BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah officiated the launch of the Brunei Fertilizer Industries (BFI) plant on Saturday, saying the new facility would help boost the sultanate’s export diversity.
Since January 2022, the plant has produced over 631,000 metric tonnes of urea fertiliser, exporting 556,000 metric tonnes overseas, valued at US$322 million.
The $1.8 billion plant was built by German conglomerate, thyssenkrupp AG’s Industrial Solutions, on a 55-hectare site at Sungai Liang Industrial Park.
It is one of the largest single-train urea facilities in the world, with a production capacity of 1.36 million tonnes of granular urea per year.
Second Minister of Finance and Economy, Dato Dr Hj Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah, said daily production capacity at the plant could reach 3,900 metric tonnes of granular urea and 2,200 metric tonnes of ammonia.
The production of these two commodities would open up other business opportunities, he said, such as the production of other petrochemical products including urea formaldehyde, melamine and resins.
The state-owned fertiliser plant is one of the largest downstream oil and gas projects in Brunei, the other being Hengyi Industries’ refinery and petrochemical plant at Pulau Muara Besar.
BFI’s first shipment was to Thailand in February 2022, followed by the the United States in May 2022. It has also exported fertiliser to Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in Asia and Africa, the minister said.
The start of urea exports is also hoped to boost Brunei’s shipping and logistics industry, with Muara Port undergoing expansion to double the size of its container terminal.