Qizildas Cement launches production, Azerbaijan

NORM LLC has launched production at its 2Mta Qizildas Cement plant, marking the entry of a new player on the Azerbaijan market.

“At present, construction work is completed at the plant and production of the first cement started. Full commissioning of the plant is planned by the end of 2013,” the company said.

The new plant is located on a 160ha plot about 2.6km north of the Sangachal Oil Terminal in Baku’s Garadagh district and will reduce the country’s dependence on imports for oilwell cements. With a clinker capacity of 5000tpd, equipment has been supplied by some of Europe’s leading technology providers, including: Hazemag (crusher) Gebr Pfeiffer (VRM), Pillard (burner), Claudius Peters (cooler), Siemens (MV motor and starters), Haver & Boecker (packing equipment) and PANalytical (X-ray analyser).

The new facility will be running at full capacity in 2014, Hasan Yalcinkaya, general director of Norm, also told journalists. "We are currently importing clinker, and we will start production of clinker in January 2014. We plan to produce 50,000-60,000t of cement by the end of this year, we will reach full capacity next year. We well begin retail sales of cement in October-November this year," Yalcinkaya said.

Norm LLC, which was launched in 2004 for the construction of the Qizildas Cement works, now becomes the fourth producer on the Azerbaijan market