Daewoo Wins $261 Million Contract for Nigeria Fertilizer Expansion
South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction has received a letter of award worth about ₩350 billion, or approximately $261 million, for a fourth fertilizer production train at Indorama's complex in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The award was announced by Daewoo on 4 November through Korean reporting. It is an awarded project, not a completed plant, and the available announcement does not disclose a construction timetable.
Daewoo will act as prime contractor for a train designed to produce 2,300 metric tons of ammonia and 4,000 metric tons of finished urea per day. The urea figure refers to the plant's disclosed finished-product rate, including granulated product; it should not be doubled by counting urea and granules as separate 4,000-ton streams.
The new train matches the capacity of Train 3
Daewoo completed Indorama Fertilizer Train 3 on 30 May 2026 after a 32-month build. That plant has the same disclosed capacity of 2,300 tons of ammonia and 4,000 tons of granulated urea per day. Train 4 therefore represents another unit of the same stated scale, although the final design, operating rate and commissioning date remain subject to project execution.
At nameplate operation for 365 days, 4,000 tons a day equates to 1.46 million tons of urea a year. A more conservative 330-day operating assumption would equal 1.32 million tons. These are simple Agrilinkage annualizations, not production forecasts. Actual output will depend on commissioning, gas supply, maintenance and utilization.
Gas supply will determine the physical result
Ammonia production depends on a continuous natural-gas feedstock and reliable utilities. The investment can raise Nigeria's fertilizer manufacturing capacity only if the plant is completed and operated with sufficient gas, power, port and logistics access. The Port Harcourt location gives the project a route to domestic markets and seaborne trade, but the award notice does not specify its customer mix or export allocation.
For farmers and fertilizer buyers, added regional capacity can improve availability and shorten supply routes. It does not automatically guarantee lower prices. Delivered urea costs still reflect gas pricing, exchange rates, financing, plant utilization, inland transport, port charges and global benchmark markets.
The contract value needs careful reading
The disclosed ₩350 billion value is approximately $261 million at the conversion reported with the company announcement. A figure of $2.6 billion carried in at least one secondary report is inconsistent with the won amount and appears to be a decimal error. The Korea Herald also reported the value as $261 million. Agrilinkage is therefore using the internally consistent company figures.
Daewoo said it has completed 75 projects in Nigeria with a combined value of about $10.8 billion since entering the country in 1983. The record may lower execution risk relative to a first-time contractor, but it does not remove the risks of a new chemical project. Final-contract terms, notice to proceed, financing, schedule and performance guarantees remain important undisclosed checkpoints.
What to watch
The next material milestones are execution of the full contract, disclosure of the construction and commissioning schedule, major equipment orders and evidence of secure feed-gas arrangements. Mechanical completion is not the same as sustained commercial operation, so early output and utilization will matter more than nameplate capacity alone.
Agrilinkage reviewed the 4 November award reporting based on Daewoo's announcement, an independent Korean report of the same amount and Daewoo's first-party completion record for Train 3. Annual production figures are transparent calculations from the disclosed daily capacity.
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