Oman Cement mulls further expansion of grinding capacity
Oman Cement is weighing moves to increase its cement grinding capacity, Hamdan Mohammed al Wahaibi, Member of the Board, stated in the Board of Directors’ Report for the nine months ended September 30, 2011, issued here yesterday.
A company has already engaged the services of a consultant to study and advise the Oman Cement on the proposed expansion, Al Wahaibi noted.
The move comes on the heels of a contract signed by Oman Cement with China National Building Materials & Equipment Import & Export Corporation for the upgrade of its Kiln-1. The upgrade, along with the modernisation of the plant’s Line-1 Pollution Control Equipment, will be undertaken at a cost of OMR14.27m.
Meanwhile, the second expansion of the plant’s third clinker production line has been completed, the Board Member said. Commissioning and performance trials of the new 4000tpd capacity kiln have been carried out, with the kiln having since produced 365,155t of clinker during the first nine months of this year. Oman Cement plans to take over the operation of the new kiln during the fourth quarter of this year.
Pre-tax profit for the nine months ended September 20, 2011 stood at OMR11.036m, compared with earnings of OMR18.376m during the corresponding period last year. The latter figure does not include a government reimbursement of OMR7.338m accounted for in the year 2010.
“The reduction in comparable profit by 39.95 per cent is mainly on account of the impact of the reduction in selling prices of cement to face competition. Further, provision of depreciation for Line-3, increase in salaries and wages, and the adverse movement of the fair value of investments due to stock market fluctuations have also affected the results of the company,” Al Wahaibi stated.
Published under Cement News
