The pride of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project will make Alba the world’s largest aluminium smelter.
Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project is one of the biggest brownfield developments in the Middle East Region. With a CAPEX of approximately US$ 3 billion, the Line 6 Expansion Project involves the construction of a sixth pot line using EGA’s proprietary DX+ Ultra Technology, a 1,792 MW Power Station (Power Station 5) utilising the world’s first H-class General Electric (GE) 9HA Gas Turbine (GT) and other industrial services.
Alba Potline 6 was commissioned on 13 December 2018, ahead of schedule, with the delivery of the First Hot Metal. Line 6 Expansion Project progress has been fast-paced since then with successfully starting 212 pots which is equivalent to 50% of Potline 6 total capacity. Alba is now looking at the safe commissioning of the remaining 212 pots and to move closer to full production by Q3 2019.
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. J.P. Morgan, Gulf International Bank (GIB) and National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) are the Financial Advisors 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 US$ 1.5 Billion syndicated term-loan facility comprising two tranches Conventional Facility & and Islamic Facility in October 2016. The 1st tranche of the Export Credit Agencies (ECA) Financing of c. US$ 700 million for Euler Hermes and SERV-covered facilities was closed in July 2017 while the first part of 2nd ECA-tranche of EUR 204.5 million for Bpifrance Assurance Export (“BpiAE”) and Euler Hermes-covered facilities was secured in April 2018. Alba successfully closed the final instalment of the 2nd ECA-tranche - c.US$136 million and c. EUR90 million from ECA supported-facilities - by end of 2018.
As of 30 April 2019, Line 6 Smelter’s Overall Progress advanced by 90.7% (Engineering progressed by 99.7% while Contracts and Procurement advanced by 98.9%); Power Station 5 & Power Distribution System Overall Progress exceeded 92% and by over 98% respectively.
Line 6 Expansion Project will be transformational for the Kingdom of Bahrain as it will significantly boost employment opportunities for Bahrainis at both Alba and the local downstream market. It will also present many co-investment opportunities through local and foreign aluminium investments in the Kingdom of Bahrain.