Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) reported a slump in the first-quarter sales value which it highlighted was due primarily to the collapse of all-in aluminium prices. The company reported total sales of BD156.5 million ($416 million), down 24 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter of 2015. The sales volume was up 1.

Bahrain's  Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (Asry) has announced it has signed a specialised services agreement with reconditioning experts Trinity Industrial Services (TIS).

Bahrain's Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (Asry) reported sales of $151 million last year, 7.3 per cent lower than in 2014, in the face of difficult market conditions and rising competition. The number of vessels repaired during the year was 243 ships and 10 drilling rigs against 176 ships and 13 rigs in 2014.

Dubai Holding has launched a project to set up an international centre for 3D printing at Dubai Industrial City. The project is in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

BASF, the global chemical leader, is seeking to grow its business in Abu Dhabi with the recent opening of an office there.

Bahrain has inaugurated a BD280 million ($743 million) power grid development project. In the first stage of the project – officially launched by the Prime Minister, HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa – three 400 kV power stations will be built in Hidd, Umm Al Hassam and Riffa along with a ground transmission network.

Bids deadline extended  STATE-RUN Saudi Aramco has extended to July 17 the bidding deadline for a clean fuels project at its biggest oil refinery in Ras Tanura, sources familiar with the plan said. The potential $2 billion scheme aims to remove sulphur from refined products. It has already had at least three bidding rounds.

A consortium comprising Mitsui, Acwa Power and Dhofar International Development and Investment Holding (DIDIC) has been awarded the 3,219 MW Ibri Sohar-3 power generation project.

German powerhouse Siemens has bagged a long-term service contract for the Umm Al Houl combined cycle power plant near Doha in Qatar and clinched a Bahrain order to supply three substations and upgrade the energy infrastructure of the kingdom.