KARACHI, Dec 22: Engro is expected to roll out urea bags from its 1.30 million ton per annum expansion project in January. The huge expansion would more than double the company’s capacity, making Engro the largest urea producer in the country.

The plant was initially targeted to be on-line in 3Q10. Target commercial operation date (COD) was subsequently shifted to 4Q10.

Curtailment of gas supply known to be one of the major reasons for the delay.

Omar Rafiq, analyst at BMA Capital, wrote in a note on Wednesday: “According to our discussions with the management, the company is in the final stages of starting trial production on plant level.” Individual plant process testing was successfully completed with minor teething issues.

Analyst said that the management was of the opinion that complete testing of the plant would be achieved before Dec 31 with ramp up and COD phases to follow during January.

Analysts at another brokerage firm, Invest & Finance Securities (IFSL) said that according to their discussions with the management, trial runs had started and the new urea plant was expected to formally begin commercial production in January.