Akhangarancement Suspended Operations Due Insufficient Supply of Natural Gas

Akhangarancement — the second largest cement plant in Uzbekistan — suspended operations due to a lack of natural gas supply. The gas that is supplied to the enterprise today is used only for space heating. Local officials confirm the downtime of the enterprise is associated exclusively with fuel supplies, and the resumption of work is tentatively expected from February 1.

Disruptions due to gas problems began on December 26, 2019, since when some clinker kilns were temporarily suspended. At the end of 2019 was finalizing a new production line with a design capacity of 3 million tpa. In December, the installation of a clinker cooler was completed. The launch of the updated Akhangarcement is expected in 2020. This would make the enterprise the largest cement producer in Uzbekistan.

According to the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics, natural gas production for 11M2019 in Uzbekistan decreased by 1.1% as compared to 2018. Last year Uzbekneftegaz proposed banning the supply of natural gas to enterprises producing body bricks, lime and cement in order to force them to switch to coal.

Akhangarantsement is owned by the Russian holding company EUROCEMENT group. The plant's production capacity is 2,18 million tons of cement per year. The company produces Portland cement in a wet process. The enterprise has four rotary kilns, seven raw materials and six cement mills. To date, Akhangarancement lags behind only Kyzylkumcement plant in the Navoi region producing 3,8 million tons per year.