Bahrain's Alba and Bechtel Commission $1.7 Billion Aluminum Potline in Record Time - Under Budget with Total $89 Million Saved

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). In mid-May, Aluminum Bahrain (Alba) (Manama, Bahrain) claimed the world record for the fastest start-up for an aluminum reduction line. The final pot on the project's fifth potline was started up 77 days into the commissioning process. It completed the potline under a '100-day Safe Start-up' project target without losing any time to injuries. Alba is claiming to have broken the existing record achieved by a smaller smelter, by a margin of 57%.

Bechtel (San Francisico, California), the ECPM contractors working on the project with Alba, have implemented Alcan's (NYSE:AL )(Montreal, Canada) AP 30 licensed technology on the $1.7 billion project. The same technology was used on Potline 4. The increase in production of 330,000 tons per year is about 17% higher than originally planned and has come in $50 million under budgeted cost.

Alba's Chief Executive, Bruce Hall, said that with an initial plan to commission an average of four pots a day, the reduction operations team, supported by Alba's units, increased the average commissioning rate to six pots a day to beat its own target by 23 days and set a hard-to-beat world benchmark.

The shorter start-up time also had tremendous implications in terms of cost saving for the company, said Hall. "Every day that the start-up was brought forward translated to a $1.4 million of additional revenue, bringing in $32.2 million for the 23 days early start-up. Combined with the $7.3 million saved by the five- day project early start-up in February 2005, our start-up project has resulted in over $39 million savings for Alba," he said.

With commissioning of Potline 5, Alba's annual aluminum production capacity will grow to over 840,000 tpy. The new 1.2-kilometer potline is currently the longest in the world using AP 30 technology and consists of 330 pots. Alba now claims to be the largest smelter in the world outside Eastern Europe.

There was enough demand for aluminum in world markets to absorb the increased capacity, said Hall, adding that he did not see any threat to Alba from upcoming smelter projects in the region. In fact, he said, the synergy that the new regional plants will create will only help the aluminum industry in the region.

Alba's contribution to the Bahrain's economy will rise from 8% to about 12% as a result of the expansion project. It has provided opportunities for Bahrain-based companies, and local contractors have benefited from attractive budget allocations and the international work practices and standards implemented by Alba and Bechtel. In terms of downstream industry supplies, 50% of Alba’s output will be retained in Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will take 15% of the output, and 35% will be exported to countries in the Far East. During the period of construction, Potline 5 created over 8,000 project-dependent jobs. Over 500 permanent jobs were created.

Plans are already in place for Potline 6 at Alba, and Hall said that he would strongly recommend to the board that they should go for number 6. It would be one of the most cost-effective plants in the world, he said.

For related news items see - January 29, 2003 - Bahrain with Bechtel Adds $1.7 billion Line to Aluminum Smelter and February 28, 2003 - Alba, Creating One of the World's Largest Aluminum Smelters

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