Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has awarded International engineering-construction firm Bechtel a $1.7 billion contract for the engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) of an expansion project and its smelter facility, stated a company release.
Work on the expansion is set to start in 2003. The company plans to increase its smelter production by 50 percent from 500,000 tons per year (tpy) to 750,00 tpy by 2005, making it the biggest aluminum producer in the Middle East.
Alba is currently rated the second largest aluminum smelter operation in the Middle East, after United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai Aluminum (Dubal). Alba began operating in 1971. It has its own shipping terminal, receiving constant supplies of raw materials including aluminum, petroleum coke and liquid pitch.
Alba is a joint venture in which the Bahraini government holds a 77 percent stake. The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund holds 20 percent of Alba shares, while the remaining three percent are held by the German Breton Investments Group. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
