Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 2
By Fatih Karimov- Trend:
About 35 percent of Iran's cement kilns are not working due to gas shortage and technical problems, Abdolreza Sheikhan, secretary of Iran's Cement Industry Employers Association said.
About 30-35 of total 97 kilns at 71 cement plants are not working, Sheikhan said, Iran's Fars news agency reported Jan. 2.
Iran's cement sector is suffering gas shortage, Sheikhan said, adding the country's cement output has decreased by almost 10-12 percent during the first eight months of current fiscal year (March 21-Nov. 21, 2015).
He forecasted that Iran's annual cement output will witness a fall by some 12 percent compared to the preceding fiscal year (ended March 21, 2015).
Iran produced over 61 million tons of cement as well as 64 million tons of clinker in the past fiscal year.
The National Iranian Gas Company has stopped supplying gas to a number of cement plants due to a wave of cold sweeping the country.
However the ongoing problem is not due to output shortage but because of delay in inaugurating the projected compressor station, according to Iranian media. It was already planed that the country's gas transmission capacity will increase by 80 million cubic meters per day this year through installing five compressor stations en route the transmission pipeline but the stations haven't become fully operational.
Iran's average daily gas consumption in the current fiscal year surpassed 456 million cubic meters, whereas the number was 431 million cubic meters for the last fiscal year. Most of Iran's gas output is consumed domestically, while most of liquid fuels that used to be consumed at industrial units and power plants are now available for export.
Currently Iran's enriched and sweet gas production capacity stands at 700 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) and 550 mcm/d respectively.
The country plans to increase gas production to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day by 2018.