Cokerie d’Ougrée
The ‘Cokerie d’Ougrée’ coke factory was founded by the ‘Société Anonyme d’Ougrée-Marihaye’. This Liege-based steel company owned several mines and blast furnaces.
- Built: 1910
- Abandoned: 2014
- Demolished: 2024
- Visited 2016
The Cokerie d’Ougrée was a large coking plant near Liège, Belgium. For many years, it turned coal into coke for the steel industry. After it closed, the huge industrial site became one of the most famous abandoned places in Belgium before demolition started.
The coking plant opened in the early 20th century as part of the growing steel industry around Liège. Coal arrived by train and was heated in large ovens without oxygen. This process produced coke, an important fuel for nearby blast furnaces. The factory helped the region become one of Europe’s biggest steel centers.
Krupp-Koppers
The Ougree coking plant was equipped with four Krupp-Koppers batteries with 139 ovens. Producing 800 thousand tons of coke a year. It supplied the nearby blast furnaces of Ougrée and Seraing. The cokes were transported by conveyor belts.
An explosion killed 3 and wounded 26 employees in 2002. In 2010, with the increase in production thanks to the restart of blast furnace HFB, the number of ovens is expanded to 185. But HFB was shut down only one year later.
The end of all heavy industry
The closure of the plant in the summer of 2014 marked the end of all heavy industry in the Liège area. An agreement could not be reached between ArcelorMittal’s management and the potential buyer, American Oxbow Mining. Because of pollution and safety risks, the site could not remain abandoned forever. Demolition began a few years later, and today almost nothing is left of this once impressive industrial complex.
This plant was the final active coke plant in the Liège region and the next-to-last one in Belgium. I took these photos of the old Cokerie d’Ougrée in 2016. Also check these other three coking plants in Belgium: Zeebrugge, Marchienne, and Anderlues.
