With Clough, Webuild enters new sector with construction of one of world’s largest urea plants  

• Contractual conditions reached to start project 

• Clough has 50 percent stake in joint-venture with Saipem

• Australia is Webuild’s second biggest with a €12 billion order backlog 

MILAN, April 21, 2023 – Clough, the Australian subsidiary of the Webuild Group, and its joint-venture partner Saipem have reached financial closure and other contractual conditions needed to start work on the Ceres urea plant in Western Australia – a €2.56-billion ($2.8 billion) contract from Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers. With Clough’s technical expertise, Webuild enters the sector of urea production, which is important to support agriculture and food security. It comes after the agreement with Perdaman was announced in May 2022. Work is to begin shortly.

The plant will be the largest in Australia and one of the largest in the world, installing the most sustainable production processes.

Clough will own 50 percent of the joint-venture and the other 50 percent by Saipem, which has a strong track record in the production of urea. 

"Thanks to this contract, Webuild enters a new and promising market segment – urea production – at a time when global demand is growing,” said Webuild Chief Executive Pietro Salini. “We are especially proud to have reached this point, which confirms what was announced in the Roadmap to 2025. This contract brings valuable expertise to our Group thanks to the know-how brought by Clough. It also confirms the strategic value of this recent acquisition.” 

The contract entails the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Pre-commissioning, and Commissioning of the plant, which will create an average of 2,000 jobs during the construction phase. Located on the Burrup Peninsula, approximately 20 kilometres north of Karratha on the coastline of Western Australia, the plant will have a production capacity of more than 2 million metric tons of urea per year. 

The plant will produce fertiliser from urea by transforming natural gas into ammonia and then into urea. The joint-venture will install the new avantgarde SynCOR Ammonia™ technology from Topsoe, making the largest ammonia plant in the world on a single synthesis reactor, while the production process of urea will use Snamprogetti™ proprietary technology. The plant will also have a control system to ensure that the urea produced will be of the highest quality.

The Ceres plant will be avantgarde in terms of energy efficiency and emission reduction. It has been designed to reduce to a minimum industrial emissions as well as the carbon footprint of the production of fertiliser. Perdaman and the joint-venture have committed to making the plant net carbon zero by 2050. Best practice in terms of CO2 emissions reduction will be applied, confirming a commitment to mitigate climate change. 

Webuild is expanding in Australia, the second biggest market for the Group after Italy, responsible for €12 billion worth of order backlog including best offers and Clough’s backlog. Projects include the construction of part of the Sydney Metro-Western Sydney Airport rail line that will connect the city to the new airport, and the North East Link, the missing section of Melbourne’s beltway.