In 2006, the Egyptian Agrium Nitrogen Products Company (EAgrium), a Canadian-based petrochemical company, planned to build a large fertilizer complex in Ras El Bar for the export of urea and ammonia through the EAgrium Marine Terminal.[12] This project was expected to cost around $1.2 billion and produce a maximum capacity of $1.3 million tons of fertilizer.[13] After Damiettans learned of the EAgrium building plan, they feared that their main sources of income and health would be negatively affected by water and air pollution from the fertilizer complex's petrochemicals.[3] The official construction of EAgrium plant in Damietta began in 2008.[13]