Bahrain Review

Key study for Alba Line 6 under way

Alba will ramp up production capacity by another 400,000 tonnes through Line 6

Alba took further concrete steps towards Line 6 by selecting Dubal’s technology for its Bankable Feasibility Study and expressed confidence in the final weeks of 2012 it would better the previous year’s output figure.

The company also introduced new cutting edge server technology to streamline and modernise its operation in its quest to raise productivity and efficiency to new heights and lower costs to stay competitive internationally.

Among other developments, the smelter scooped awards recently including one saying it is the best company for investor relations and had several of its women honoured at Bahraini Women’s Day celebrations. The company happens to employ the largest number of women in any Bahrain industrial firm.

Alba remains on target to exceed the 2011 production of 881,310 tonnes while at the same time focusing on future growth strategies, its chairman Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji said while announcing the launch of the Line 6 Bankable Feasibility Study.

“2012 has been a volatile year for the aluminium industry. However, even in the face of tough market conditions Alba has remained resilient by bolstering its operational performance,” Al Kooheji said. He added that the Line 6 Bankable Feasibility Study would play a major role in Alba’s growth history. Line 6 is expected to add 400,000 tonnes bringing Alba’s total production to 1.3 million tonnes per year.

Kalban (left) and Murray signing the use
of technology agreement for the Bankable
Feasibility Study

Alba will use Dubal’s DX+ technology for the study, following an agreement signed by Abdulla Kalban, president and CEO of Dubal, and Alba CEO Tim Murray. The Line 6 Bankable Feasibility Study will determine the viability of Alba’s sixth potline expansion project.

DX+ Technology is the product of on-going research and development work at Dubal. “Essentially an enhanced version of Dubal’s proven, inherently robust DX Technology, DX+  is designed to operate at higher amperages and optimised performance levels,” Dubal said. “Five DX+ technology cells, built in a pilot line at Dubal’s Jebel Ali site in 2010 initially operated at 420 kA and currently operate in stable fashion at 440 kA. At this level, the DX+ Technology cells yield substantially better energy efficiency and specific energy consumption levels than DX Technology cells.”

The DX+ technology has been licensed to Emal Phase II, where it is being installed in a new 440-cell potline that is currently under construction with a nameplate capacity of 520,000 tonnes per year (at 420 kA).

While in the UAE, the Alba delegation visited Dubal’s Potline 8 and Dubal’s DX+ technology pilot section. The Alba delegates also toured Emirates Aluminium (Emal) in Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi – where 756 DX Technology cells, arranged in two potlines, have been fully operational at Emal Phase I since the end of December 2010.

“Dubal’s reduction technologies have been designed, fully-modelled and extensively tested. The results consistently confirm that both DX and DX+ Technology operate in a stable way, demonstrating not only the robustness of their design but also the suitability of both to the Gulf climate,” says Kalban.

Alba has awarded Bechtel Canada a Letter of Intent (LOI) to perform the Bankable Feasibility Study for the Line 6 expansion. The study will include the economic analysis for the construction of a new Line 6 and Power Station 5.  

Bechtel has considerable industry specific experience in the region and was previously the EPCM contractor for the Alba Line 4 and 5 expansions. The BFS is expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2013.

 

NEW SERVER TECHNOLOGY
Alba announced it will adopt the new Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V 3.0 and System Center 2012. The announcement was made during the Windows Server 2012 Bootcamp organised by Microsoft Bahrain on December 19 and 20, 2012, at the Sheraton Hotel.

Potroom at Line 5

“Alba was chosen to be part of the Rapid Deployment Programme (or RDP) of this cutting edge platform in May 2012. The deployment was achieved across the company’s multiple datacentres to help achieve the best private cloud environment,” it said.  

Commented IT manager Esam Hadi: “For a company of Alba’s size, it is imperative that efficient backend support remains at the heart of all business operations and in enabling the company achieve its productivity goals. The deployment of this new cloud platform was a move in the right direction as it helped reduce IT operational cost by 25 per cent through its reliable and innovative use of low-cost storage as well as bring improvements in continuous system availability. With the new Windows Server 2012 from Microsoft, we are gaining tremendous efficiencies, which translate into more time to innovate for company growth.”

Windows Server 2012 – widely regarded as a cornerstone of the Cloud OS – expands the definition of a server operating system and adds significant new advancements in virtualisation, storage, networking and automation. In combination with Windows Azure and System Centre, Windows Server 2012 empowers customers to manage and deliver applications and services across private, hosted and public clouds.

 

HONOURS
The company’s standing amongst the world’s leading aluminium smelters was bolstered with top regional honours the company received for its relations with investors, business operations and interactions with external entities.

Alba’s corporate website notched first place in Bahrain as well the second place in the Middle East region at the 2012 M: Communications/KWDigital Middle East Web Ranking Survey after being placed 47 in 2011 in the same survey.

Alba was also chosen as the Best Company for Investor Relations in Bahrain at the 4th Middle East Investor Relations Society (ME-IR) Annual Awards Conference that took place recently in Abu Dhabi. The survey included 138 of the largest listed companies from nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. As for the award, the winners were voted in an independent IR survey conducted by Thomson Reuters’ Extel – reputedly the largest IR survey in the region since 2008.

Commenting on the honours, chief executive Murray said: “As a company we are committed to set benchmarks in corporate governance, transparency and accountability, and these awards indicate that we are moving on the right track.”

Earlier in November, Alba was praised for its success in implementing its Code of Conduct, and was selected amongst seven regional companies to be included in a landmark report on corporate good practices in accountability and transparency. The report was published by Pearl Initiative, a private sector-led not-for-profit organisation set up to improve transparency and accountability in the Arab world.

 

WOMEN
Alba hailed the contribution of women employees in shaping the company’s success story at a luncheon held at the Regency Intercontinental Hotel on December 2 to mark Bahraini Women’s Day.

The event was held under the patronage of Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and chairperson of the Supreme Council for Women.

Murray said the company is widely praised for providing employees with opportunities for career advancement backed with industry best incentives. “These opportunities are based purely on merit, and as a result, many of our women employees have reached senior positions in the organisational hierarchy and participate in decision-making,” the chief executive stressed.