Tehran, Iran, December 8
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
The National Iranian Gas Company has stopped supplying gas to a number of cement factories as a wave of cold swept the country.
As gas consumption has peaked in the recent cold days, some cement factories including western Iranian cement factories stopped receiving gas, Abdolreza Sheikhan, secretary of Iran's Cement Association said, Fars news agency reported December 8.
He complained that under shortage of gas, the factories cannot use mazut either because a government law to provide the factories with mazut at the price of equal gas is not being implemented.
Despite the fact that the factories store enough mazut to run for 7 to 10 days, they are not using their reserves because they are not sure if they will receive mazut as the law has stipulated, Sheikhan said.
He further said last year when the factories stopped working for 20 days under similar situations, the Oil Ministry refused to pay them from the money it had made by economizing on gas.