Displaying items by tag: Gas

Egypt: Several Egyptian cement producers have reported how they are coping with gas shortages in the country. Production at South Valley Cement has stopped. The company has announced that the gas supply will resume on 28 June 2013. Alexandria Portland Cement has reported that its plant has not stopped production. Its subsidiary, Beni Suef Cement, has reported that it cannot yet assess the impact of the shortage on production.

The National Cement Company has announced that operations are ongoing on a normal basis and that there are no shortages in gas capacity. Misr Cement Qena has said that its cement plants are operating using Mazut and not natural gas. However, due to a shortage in the supply of Mazut, clinker production has been suspended more than once recently.

Egypt: Jose Maria Magrina, chief executive officer of Arabian Cement Company (ACC), has asked the Egyptian government to help cement producers move to using coal and alternative fuels. In an announcement Magrina explained that ACC is ready to substitute all the natural gas used at its 5Mt/yr cement plant in Ain Sokhna to coal and refuse derived fuel (RDF) and had applied for the necessary government permits to do so on 14 March 2013. However until late May 2013 no answer had been received from the government.

"The investment needed to substitute natural gas or mazot (heavy duty fuel oil) with coal ranges from US$6-8m/Mt, while converting to RDF costs around US$8-12m/Mt. However for private companies to be encouraged to commit to such a huge investment, the government should look into incentivising this initiative by putting together a solid policy that includes governmental support," commented Magrina.

Magrina added that the government should remove the operating license fee imposed on new companies, as this was intended to cover the cost of subsidised natural gas, and that it should be granted an environmental permit. ACC is still waiting for the permit to use coal, which will replace 70% of its gas supply. Once the company is granted the permit, it will be ready to make the conversion by the fourth quarter of 2013.

Since February 2013, energy shortages have caused the cement industry in Egypt a loss of 20% (3.7Mt) in production capacity, while ACC has lost 25% (350,000t) of its cement production capacity in the same period. Losses of over 50% are expected during the summer of 2013. Until late 2010, the Egyptian government encouraged cement producers to switch to using natural gas. However, the current energy crisis has seen the government promote the use of coal and alternative fuels instead.

Egypt: Suez Cement has reported in a filing sent to the Egyptian Exchange that the cement sector in Egypt is facing a drop in natural gas supply below normal levels. However, Suez Cement indicated that deliveries at its plants were not affected due to the group's strategic inventory of clinker.

On 20 January 2013 the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced that it would increase prices of mazut, a heavy, low-quality fuel oil, for the cement and ceramics industries by 50% to US$225/t from US$150/t. This follows a threatened increase in the price of mazut in late December 2012 of 130% that the government exempted cement producers from. However, the government planned to increase the price of natural gas to US$6/mmBtu from US$4/mmBtu at the same time.

Tajikistan: Tajikcement, the largest cement plant in Tajikistan, has stopped production due to a shortage of natural gas according to a report from the Avesta news agency.

"Natural gas is the main fuel for the factory. Partial interruption in the supply of gas caused a decrease in cement production. The factory produced 190,500t of cement in January to November 2012, which is a 60,000t decrease compared to the same period in 2011," said a source quoted by Avesta. He added that gas supplies to the plant in Dushanbe have been interrupted several times in 2012.

Saydakhmad Sharofutdinov, the head of the Tajiktransgas the nation's gas importing company, said that the thermal power plant in Dushanbe was the largest consumer of natural gas in Tajikistan, receiving 100,000m3/day.

Bolivia: Soboce's planned cement plant in Yacuses, Santa Cruz will require 10Mm³ of natural gas supplies, Soboce's main shareholder Samuel Doria Medina has said. According to the project's viability study, the plant will also need a pipeline to be built and a gas supply guarantee from state-run oil and gas firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).

Soboce estimates that the plant will cost US$160m to build. The project will be able to generate energy for its own consumption using natural gas. Soboce and YPFB have already built a 19.6km pipeline to supply gas to another plant in Viacha.