OCI Fertilizer Group Selects Iowa for New Plant

CAIRO, EGYPT--(Marketwire - Sep 6, 2012) -

                             Cairo, Egypt / 5 September, 2012 11:15 PM

OCI Fertilizer Group Selects Iowa for its New US$ 1.4 Billion
Greenfield Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant in the United States

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) announced today that its wholly
owned subsidiary Iowa Fertilizer Company (IFCo) will build a new
greenfield nitrogen fertilizer production plant in southeast Iowa to
supply customers in the U.S. corn belt. The new plant will be located
in Wever, within Lee County near the Mississippi River. Iowa is the
top corn producing state in the United States and has the highest use
of nitrogen-based fertilizer in the nation. IFCo's new plant will be
the first world scale natural gas-based fertilizer plant built in the
United States in nearly 25 years and will help reduce the country's
dependence on imported fertilizers which exceeds 15 million metric tons
of ammonia, urea, and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) annually.

IFCo's new plant will utilize proven state-of-the-art production
process technologies from world leaders. Kellogg Brown & Root LLC
(KBR), Maire Tecnimont Stamicarbon (Tecnimont), and ThyssenKrupp Uhde
(Uhde) have been selected to supply the process technologies for the
plant which will produce between 1.5 - 2 million metric tons per year
of ammonia, urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust
fluid (DEF)(1), an environmentally-friendly fluid used to reduce
emissions in diesel engines. Construction work on the plant is
scheduled to begin later this year and will be completed by mid 2015.

The total investment cost is estimated to be US$ 1.4 billion and will
be funded with a combination of equity and a tax-exempt bond issuance.
The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) has authorized IFCo to access bonding
capacity under its private activity tax-exempt Midwestern Disaster Area
bond program. In addition, the Iowa Economic Development Authority
(IEDA) board unanimously approved a comprehensive state financial
incentive package expected to provide state tax relief in the order of
US$ 100 million. The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) board
will also consider financial assistance for project-related public
infrastructure improvements.

The state of Iowa Governor, Terry Branstad, commented "I am pleased to
welcome OCI to Iowa. Their project is the largest investment ever made
in our state. The Iowa Fertilizer Company will bring high-paying
permanent jobs to Lee County and will create approximately 2,500
construction jobs over the next three years. We believe this major
capital investment will help invigorate economic development in an area
of the state which has previously experienced significant challenges.
We look forward to working closely with OCI and its management to
ensure the successful completion of their project."

(1) Diesel Exhaust Fluid or AdBlue as it is known in Europe is an aqueous
urea solution used in Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) to lower
nitrogen oxide (NOx) from diesel engines. DEF is non-hazardous and
consists of 67.5% de-ionized water and 32.5% urea. The product is
sprayed into the exhaust and combines with a catalyst to break down NOx
into nitrogen and water. Stringent environmental regulations introduced
in recent years have resulted in substantial use of DEF in Europe and
Japan and increased adoption in the US and Canadian markets.

OCI Chief Executive Officer, Nassef Sawiris, commented "OCI is pleased
to have selected the state of Iowa for its North American expansion and
is looking forward to helping bring permanent jobs and significant
economic activity to Lee County and the state. Iowa Fertilizer Company
is well-positioned to supply nitrogen-based fertilizer products to
farmers in the corn belt and help reduce their substantial reliance on
annual imports of fertilizer into the country. We intend to expand our
presence in the United States and most recently agreed to acquire the
Weitz Company, an Iowa-based construction company, which will play a
major role in the construction of our new fertilizer plant."

About Orascom Construction Industries

OCI is one of Egypt's largest corporations employing more than 72,000
people in 35 countries around the globe. The OCI Fertilizer Group owns
and operates nitrogen fertilizer plants in Egypt, the Netherlands, the
United States, and Algeria and has an international distribution
platform spanning from the Americas to Asia. The OCI Fertilizer Group
ranks among the world's top fertilizer producers with a production
capacity which will exceed 7.0 million metric tons in 2012. The OCI
Construction Group provides international engineering and construction
services primarily on infrastructure, industrial and high-end
commercial projects in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa for
public and private clients. The OCI Construction Group ranks among the
world's top global contractors.


For additional information
contact:                      For additional information on OCI:
OCI Investor Relations
Department:                    www.orascomci.com 
Omar Darwazah                 OCI stock symbols: OCIC.CA / OCIC EY /
Email:                        OCICqL / ORSD / ORSCY
 omar.darwazah@orascomci.com 

Erika Wakid                   Orascom Construction Industries (OCI)
Email:                        Nile City Towers - South Tower
 erika.wakid@orascomci.com      2005A Corniche El Nil
                              Cairo, Egypt
Hassan Badrawi
Director

Tel: +202 2461 1036/0727/0917
Fax: +202 2461 9409




                    This information is provided by RNS
          The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END