Displaying items by tag: Oman

Oman: The German University of Technology in Oman (GUTech) has 3D printed a 190m2 house in Halban, Al Batinah South governorate, using conventional concrete. Trade Arabia News has reported that the structure is the world’s largest 3D printed building. GUTech applied Denmark-based Cobod’s D.fab product to print the building using Mexico-based Cemex’s concrete in five days.

Oman: Oman Cement Company has invited contractors to submit bids for work at its integrated Rusayl plant. It wants to build a new 10,000t/day production line (Line 4) and upgrade an existing line (Line 3) to 5000t/day from 4000t/day. The plans were originally released in September 2021. The company also intends to shut down Lines 1 and 2 once work is completed.

It was previously reported in October 2021 that the cement producer was spending US$300m on the project and that it had hired Switzerland-based PEG Resources. At this time the project had a commissioning date of 2024.

Oman: Oman Cement Company will spend US$300m on the new 10,000t/day Line 4 as part of the upcoming upgrade and expansion of its Rusayl cement plant in Muscat governorate. The Oman Observer newspaper has reported that Switzerland-based PEG Resources will carry out the work. Oman Cement Company CEO Salem bin Abdullah al Hajri said that the new line will help Oman to achieve cement self-sufficiency by 2024.

The company said “The new 10,000t/day production line will be the largest in Oman and will have more cost-effective production, for the company to sustain its success and competitiveness in the local and international cement markets in a long run.” It added “The company will focus on utilising state-of-the-art production technology resulting in lower power consumption, potential for waste heat recovery (WHR), higher fuel efficiency, realisable use of alternative fuels (AF), improved productivity and the best environmental standards.”

Oman Cement Company is also expanding the Rusayl plant’s Line 3 by 25% to 5000t/day from 4000t/day, prior to decommissioning its other two lines.

Raysut Cement Company (RCC) announced this week that it is preparing to commission its Duqm grinding plant in late 2021. It follows the news from earlier in September 2021 than Oman Cement Company (OCC) is planning to build a new clinker production line at its Rusayl cement plant.

First some detail on the RCC project. The new US$30m unit will have a production capacity of 1Mt/yr, bringing the company’s total cement production capacity to 7.4Mt/yr. As part of the development process, RCC signed a land lease and Port of Terminal services agreement with the Port of Duqm Company. The new grinding unit is also intended to complement RCC’s expansion and new investments and acquisitions in Oman, Asia and East Africa.

Other relatively recent RCC news include, in 2019, its acquisition of Sohar Cement Company in Oman for US$60m, the announcement of plans to build a new 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant in Georgia for US$200 and a joint-venture deal to establish a 1Mt/yr grinding plant in Somaliland for US$40m. Then in 2020 it obtained a 75% stake in a cement terminal in the Maldives owned by subsidiaries of Holcim, and a project to build a 0.75Mt/yr grinding plant in Toamasina, Madagascar, for US$30m was detailed in the local press. More recently in 2021, China-based Sinoma started building a waste heat recovery (WHR) unit at RCC’s Salalah cement plant, RCC gained certification for some of its cement products for export to the European Union, and the Competition Authority of Kenya granted RCC permission to sell a majority stake in its East African based business.

OCC’s upgrade to its Rusayl cement plant will see it add a new production line and increase the capacity of one of the existing lines. Overall the project will increase the unit’s nominal clinker production capacity to 15,000t/day from 8700t/day at present by adding a new 10,000t/day line and increasing the current Line 3 to 4000t/day from 2700t/day at present. Lines 1 and 2, at 2000t/day and 2700t/day, will then be decommissioned after the new line starts operation. OCC says that the new line, when built, will be the biggest in the country. Scant detail has been released beyond the main vision but the company says it wants to focus on low power consumption, consider using a waste heat recovery unit, increase its fuel efficiency, use alternative fuels and adhere to ‘best’ environmental standards. It has hired PEG Resources, a Switzerland-based engineering consultancy, to conduct a technical study, tendering and contracting as well as supervision of the project execution. The company had also been working towards building a new integrated plant at Duqm. However, this project was put on hold in the first quarter of 2021 pending confirmation of fuel availability and as the Rusayl upgrade took priority.

The Omani cement sector is dominated by OCC and RCC since they own the biggest plants and they have consolidated this by buying competitors and building new plants. Both companies suffered from reduced sales year-on-year in 2019 due to imports from the neighbouring UAE. The government duly implemented anti-dumping measures in 2020 and company revenues recovered that year. However, the coronavirus pandemic then hit, leading to losses at RCC in 2020 although the situation appears to have improved for the company in the first half of 2021. OCC reported continued ‘intense’ price competition between local producers and importers in the same period.

OCC is majority owned by the government via an investment fund. As the recent announcement shows, it has decided to focus on building production capacity domestically. This week’s launch of its Al Burj Cement as a distinctive local product looks like another part of this approach. However, as Bloomberg reported in May 2021, the government was considering selling its stake in the producer and had been in discussions with financial advisors on the matter. By contrast, RCC’s biggest shareholder at the end of 2020 was the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, with a 15% share. RCC has taken a more international approach, operating an integrated plant in the UAE and focusing on trading and grinding cement around the Arabian and African parts of the Indian Ocean.

Similar to other Gulf States, the building materials markets in Oman are dominated by government spending and the price of oil. Market forecasts predict recovery in the building materials markets in 2021 but in the longer term growth depends on general economic diversification. Oman, like its neighbours, is trying to do this. In this context it is instructive to see that OCC and RCC are pursuing different business strategies.

Oman: Raysut Cement has said that it will commission its upcoming 1Mt/yr Duqm plant, the country’s first clinker grinding plant, in late 2021. The cost of the project is US$30m. The company’s global capacity target is 10Mt/yr by 2022 and 22Mt/yr ‘in the near future.’ It operates the 3Mt/yr Salalah cement plant in Oman and holds minority stakes in three East African grinding plants.

Support services and business development chief Yousef Ahmed Alawi Alibrahim said “This has been a challenging year for manufacturing industries in general, but RCC has been able to negotiate the hurdles with effective planning focusing on health and safety.”

Oman: Oman Cement plans to upgrade its 4.2Mt/yr Rusayl cement plant. Reuters News has reported that the producers’ plans consist of a 25% capacity expansion of Line 3 of the plant to 5000t/day from 4000t/day and the construction of a new 10,000t/day Line 4. Lines 1 and 2 will subsequently shut down. Thus, the upgrade will increase the plant’s nominal clinker capacity to 15,000t/day from 8700t/day.

Kenya: The Competition Authority of Kenya has granted China-based Zou Fengqi and Oman-based Raysut Cement exemption from regulatory approval on a recent application in line with competition guidelines. The Business Daily newspaper has reported that the application stated that Zou Fengqi plans to acquire a 60% stake in Raysut Cement’s business in East Africa.

Raysut Cement operates grinding plants in Mogadishu, Somalia and Somaliland.

Oman: The government is reportedly considering selling its majority stake in Oman Cement. Unnamed sources quoted by Bloomberg say that the authorities have been discussing the matter with financial advisors but that no final decision has been reached. The government owns a 54% stake in the cement producer through the Oman Investment Authority.

In separate reporting, Oman Cement Company has postponed its proposed US$250m Duqm cement plant project while it confirms the availability of fuel. In March 2021 the cement producer issued a tender for a related power plant project, according to the Muscat Daily newspaper. The proposed plant will have a clinker production capacity of 5000t/day.

Oman: Raysut Cement has been granted the CE and NF markings by France-based AFNOR Certification for some of the cement products manufactured at its Salalah plant. The cement producer has been advised that it is now able to export its CEM I 42.5R CE PM CP2 NF and CEM II/B-LL 32.5N CE products to the European Union. It follows the plant upgrading its quality management to meet the CE and NF requirements. The producer has also passed certifications for CE002:2020 or NF002:2019, NFP 15-317:2006 and NFP 15-318:2006, allowing it to export cement to islands in the Indian Ocean. Raysut Cement was advised by Switzerland-based Quadra Trading on how to comply with the quality requirements of the international standards.

Oman: Oman Cement has issued an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender to build a power plant at its proposed integrated plant at the Port of Duqm. The Muscat Daily newspaper has reported that the plant will have a clinker production capacity of 5000t/day and is expected to cost US$250m.