Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd

Background to Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd

Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd (BFPL) is a private company, formed in Australia in 2000, and promoted by the Oswal Group in India. BFPL's exclusive purchaser of ammonia from the plant, Yara International ASA, is also an equity-holder in the project.

Construction of the company's A$700 million liquid ammonia plant on the Burrup Peninsula, near Karratha in Western Australia, started in 2003, production commenced in April 2006, and BFPL's first export shipment was made from the Port of Dampier in June, 2006.

With a production capacity of 760,000 tonnes annually, the plant is one of the world's largest ammonia production facilities, producing 6% of the total world output of tradable ammonia. Its take-or-pay contract for the purchase of gas from the North West Shelf means the plant will be in production for at least 25 years. 

The project created 1100 jobs (at peak) during construction, and now provides employment for nearly 100 production and administrative staff. BFPL has a commitment to training locally recruited staff to operate the plant, which is the only one of its kind in Australia. To facilitate this, the company has purchased a purpose built Operator Training Simulator (at a cost of almost A$1 million), one of only two in the world, to train operations staff.

Development of the project represents the biggest ever Indian investment in Australia.

BFPL received strong Governmental support and were granted Major Project Facilitation Status by the Federal Government of Australia. The Government of Western Australia supported the development of the project with an investment of A$160 million in an infrastructure package designed to attract downstream processing to the Burrup Peninsula. This package included an upgrade of the Port of Dampier which incorporated a new purpose built Bulk Liquids Berth, a multi-user service corridor and a desalination plant. Development of BFPL's project enabled Government approval of the supporting infrastructure package.