Alumnium

Alba Line 6 expansion project on track

Alba line 6 pot shell fabrication in full swing

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the first aluminium smelter in the Gulf region, has been making steady progress with the execution of its flagship development, the Line 6 Expansion Project, said the company chairman.

“We are delighted to see that the Line 6 Expansion Project continues to progress on schedule as that will accelerate our position to be the largest single-site smelter in the world,” added Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa.

“I thank our EPCM contractor, International Bechtel Co Ltd (Bechtel), Alba CEO, Tim Murray and the Alba Line 6 Owner’s Team for their commitment to deliver our Project on a timely and safe manner,” he added.

Shaikh Daij: committed to deliver

Shaikh Daij: committed to deliver

According to the company, earthworks and concrete (including precast) at the site are continuing as planned, with engineering at 50 per cent completion, and procurement and contracts at 70 per cent completion. Overall the project is at 25 per cent completion, with the erection of structural steel in the new pot room was scheduled for completion in September.

“We are thrilled to be breaking ground on Alba’s historic project,” said Bechtel’s president for Mining and Metals, Paige Wilson. “We also look forward to continuing to work with the Alba Line 6 Owner’s Team as the project targets First Hot Metal (FHM) by 1 January 2019 and to furthering our long-term partnership,” he added.

This game changer, which involves the construction of sixth pot line, a 1,792 MW power station and other industrial services, is expected to begin production by January 1, 2019 and 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.

 

POT SHELL FABRICATION

The leading aluminium smelter also announced that its Line 6 Expansion Project’s pot shell fabrication is full swing at a Bahrain contractor.

Murray paid an inspection visit to Ahmed Mansoor Al Aali (AMA Group), one of the major Bahraini contractors for the Line 6 Expansion Project, to celebrate the fabrication of 100 pot shells, last month.

Murray was accompanied by Line 6 project director Shawqi Al Hashmi and a delegation of Line 6 owners’ team and managers from Bechtel, the main contractor for the project.

Speaking about this achievement, Murray said: “We are very happy with AMA Group’s swift progress in fabricating 100 pot shells ahead of schedule. This level of performance shows that AMA Group shares our commitment to accelerate the delivery of Line 6 Expansion Project.”

AMA Group was awarded the contract to manufacture 427 pot shells (each weighing 44 metric tonnes) for Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project, the first of which will be delivered to the Alba site by October 1.

With a capex of approximately $3 billion, the Line 6 Expansion Project involves the construction of a sixth pot line utilising EGA’s proprietary DX+ Ultra Technology, a 1,792 MW power station and other industrial services.

Murray: leading the project

Murray: leading the project

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 financialaAdvisors for this Project.

In June 2015, Alba Board approved the Line 6 Expansion Project and in November 2015, Alba secured the natural gas supply for this Project.

Alba successfully closed a $1.5 billion syndicated term-loan facility comprising two tranches: Conventional Facility and and Islamic Facility in October 2016 as well as c. $700 million Export Credit Financing (Euler Hermes and SERV-covered facilities) in July 2017. The company is looking to secure the second tranche of the Export Credit Agency (ECAs) within the second half of 2017.

The Front End Engineering Design (Feed) study for the Project was completed in the first quarter of 2017 while the construction site-works have started in the second quarter of 2017 and will be completed by September 2017.  Alba has laid the First Concrete in Potline 6 Foundation in May 2017 wherein the concrete foundations will reach 85,000 cubic metre upon completion by December 2018.

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 of Bahrain due to the many co-investment opportunities through local and foreign aluminium investments.

Alba, is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is one of the top 10 largest aluminium producers in the world. Originally incorporated in 1968, the company’s 87 per cent of its total workforce are Bahraini nationals. It began operations in 1971 with a 120,000 metric tonne annual capacity. Modernisation bumped the output up to 450,000 metric tonnes in 1992. In the spring of 2005, Alba opened Line 5, raising output by 860,000 metric tonnes per year.