CF Industries eyes $1 bln Peru petrochemical plan

LIMA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Fertilizer maker CF Industries (CF.N) is looking to invest $1 billion to develop petrochemical plants in Peru, the company's president said on Thursday.

CF Industries, which has fertilizer and nitrogen plants in the United States and Canada, plans to build two plants in Peru -- an ammonia plant with a capacity of some 2,100 metric tonnes per day and a granulated urea plant with a per-day capacity of some 3,300 metric tonnes.

"We do not know the exact amount because the studies are still being done, but we are estimating the projects' investment at $1 billion," Steve Wilson, President of CF Industries, said in Lima, where leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies are gathered this week for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum.

Last year, CF Industries was granted the option to buy some 100 million cubic feet of natural gas from Argentina's Pluspetrol, which heads a consortium that exports gas from Peru's Camisea field, a massive reserve.

Peru is working to persuade foreign companies to invest billions of dollars to develop petrochemical plants which turn natural gas into ammonium nitrate used to make explosives, fertilizers and ethylene for plastics. (Reporting by Teresa Cespedes; Writing by Dana Ford)