Alba Potline 6 foundation work begins
MANAMA: Alba, the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, announced that the first concrete in Potline 6 foundation was successfully achieved in May this year with the commencement of early works in the construction site.
Potline 6 will have two pot rooms, E&F, wherein each pot room is approximately 1.4 kilometres in length and are considered the longest buildings on the Line 6 Expansion Project plot.
“We are very pleased with the fast-track approach adopted by our team towards our landmark project,” said Alba chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa.
“We also remain optimistic that by reducing the lead time activities, we will be able to get Line 6 Expansion Project off to a successful start as per schedule and have the First Hot Metal by January 2019.”
Upon completion in December 2018, the concrete foundations for Potline 6 will be approximately 85,000 cubic metres.
Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project is one of the largest brownfield developments in the region.
Expected to begin production by early 2019, this project will boost the smelter’s per-annum production by 540,000 metric tonnes, bringing its total production capacity to 1.5 million metric tonnes per year.
With a capital expenditure of approximately $3 billion, the Line 6 Expansion Project involves the construction of a sixth potline utilising EGA’s proprietary DX+ Ultra Technology, a 1,792 MW power station and other industrial services.
Bechtel is the EPCM contractor for the Line 6 Expansion Project smelter.
For Power Station 5 (PS 5), GE and GAMA Consortium was awarded the EPC contract, while Siemens is the power distribution system contractor. JP Morgan, Gulf International Bank (GIB) and National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) are the financial advisers for the project.
In June 2015, Alba’s board approved the project and in November 2015, the smelter secured the natural gas supply for it.
The company closed a $1.5bn syndicated term-loan facility in October 2016, comprising two tranches.
Alba also secured commitments of about $700 million from Export Credit Agency (ECA) supported facilities in April 2017.
The Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study was completed in the first quarter this year while the construction site-works have started in the second quarter and will be completed by September.
The Line 6 Expansion Project will make Alba the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter and be a significant economic boost for the kingdom due to the many co-investment opportunities through local and foreign aluminium investments.
