TEHRAN Sept. 01(Shana)�Construction of Marvdasht Petrochemical Plant has made 96% physical progress and the project is developing as planned.

Aimed at an annual output of 1.7 million tons of urea and ammoniac, the plant is being constructed with IRR2tr of investment and proceeds 0.47% per month.

Once completed, the project will create 500 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs. In its second phase, the project will add 660,000t/y or ammoniac and 1.7mt of granular urea to its output.

The plant will be fed by 1bcm/y of natural gas recovered from South Pars gas field.

Granular urea, with a 46 percent nitrogen content, is a solid nitrogen fertilizer product. Produced from ammonia and carbon dioxide, it has the highest nitrogen content of any solid nitrogen fertilizer. Urea can be applied by itself or easily mixed with phosphate and/or potash fertilizers, often as part of a total N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphate, and potash) plant food mix. As a granular product, urea can be applied directly to the soil using conventional spreading equipment.

By SHANA