Kuwait: Kuwait Cement has made its first delivery of oil well cement to National Petroleum Services. It is producing the product at its Shuaiba plant, according to the Arab Times newspaper. It holds API Monogram licencing from American Petroleum Institute (API) to produce this type of cement.

Ivory Coast: Imports of clinker rose by 2.3% year-on-year to 3.10Mt in 2018 from 3.03Mt in 2017. The value of the product increased by 9.7% to US$162m from US$148m, according to Connection Ivoirienne. Clinker surpassed crude oil as the most imported commodity by volume into the country in 2017.

Lebanon: Residents of Ain Dara near Aley have protested at the Industry Ministry against the decision to grant a licence to the Al Arz Cement plant project. The protestors object on environmental grounds, according to the Daily Star newspaper. In a statement the ministry said that the plant would conform to environmental regulations. The project was launched in 2017 by entrepreneur Pierre Fattoush.

US: Argos USA’s Harleyville cement plant in South Carolina and Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua’s (GCC) Pueblo plant in Colorado have been awarded Energy Star certification by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the first time. Altogether 100 manufacturing plants across different industries earned the certification in 2018.

24 cement plants received the certification in 13 states. These cement companies included Alamo Cement, Argos USA, Buzzi Unicem, CalPortland, Cemex, Continental Cement, GCC, Holcim US, Lehigh Cement, Salt River Materials and Titan America.

“America’s cement manufacturers’ commitment to sustainable manufacturing have led to improved equipment reliability, energy efficiency, and the increased the use of alternative fuels,” said Portland Cement Association president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Ireland.

Paraguay: Businessman José Ortíz says that Denmark’s FLSmidth will supply equipment for a new 1Mt/yr cement plant being built in Concepción. He made the comments in a radio interview, according to La Nacion newspaper. The unit is expected to be commissioned in mid-2021 and it has an investment of US$180m. The project is being financed by the Cartes Group, the Jiménez Gaona Group and José Ortiz. Jorge Mendez, the former president of state-owned cement producer Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC), will be president of the new plant.

Portugal: Researchers at the Department of Materials Engineering and Ceramics at the University of Aveiro have developed a so-called ‘eco-cement’ that uses waste cellulose and clay. The cement type uses waste from the pulp industry such as ash and lime grains. This makes up 70% of its composition with the remaining 30% being metakaolin clay. The cement can be manufactured at room temperature reducing its energy consumption massively compared to Ordinary Portland Cement. The research team includes Manfredi Saeli, Rui Novais, Paula Seabra and João Labrincha.

India/Singapore: Shree Cement has closed down Shree Global, its subsidiary in Singapore. It said it had struck the company off the Registrar of Companies in early March 2019. Previously, the cement producer said that the subsidiary was being used to trade coal, petcoke, minerals, bags and other commodities.

UK: Thamesport Cement, a subsidiary of France’s Cem’In’Eu, has applied for planning permission to build a grinding plant at the London Thamesport seaport on the Isle of Grain in Kent. The unit is expected to cost around Euro21m.

It is proposed that all the mineral raw materials will be imported by sea and the finished cement will then be transported by road either in bulk or in bags. Around 0.48Mt/yr of raw materials will be imported to the site, comprising 24,000t/yr of gypsum, 72,000t/yr of limestone and 384,000t/yr of clinker. Ships will be unloaded using cranes at the wharf. The plant will have six silos with a capacity of 500t for finished products. It is expected to create 35 full time jobs.

Zambia: Zambezi Portland Cement has spent Euro23m on an upgrade to its plant. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gomeli Litana said that the upgrade was necessary due to the high demand for cement, according to the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation. He added that the expansion was likely to reduce the cost of cement.

Qatar: Al Khalij Cement has signed a three-year deal to supply oil well cement to Qatar Petroleum. The agreement was signed by Qatar Petroleum’s Executive Vice President Projects, Engineering & Procurement Services Mohamed Al Marri and Qatari Investors Group chief executive officer (CEO) Raja Assili, according to the Qatar News Agency and the Peninsula newspaper. It was announced at the launch of Qatar Petroleum’s Tawteen program.

“We are delighted to have been selected by Qatar Petroleum for the supply of oil well cement. This represents an endorsement of the high quality standards of our production facility,” said Abdulla Bin Nasser Al Misnad, the chairman of Qatari Investors Group. Al Khalij Cement is a subsidiary of Qatari Investors Group.