Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project is one of the biggest brownfield developments in the Middle East Region.

Commissioned on 13 December 2018, the Line 6 Expansion Project will boost Alba’s per-annum production by 540,000 metric tonnes with a total production capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes per year. The pride of the Kingdom of Bahrain, this Project will make Alba the world’s largest aluminium smelter.

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.

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 Financing of c. US$ 700 million for Euler Hermes and SERV-covered facilities in July 2017 and the first part of 2nd ECA-tranche of EUR 204.5 million for Bpifrance Assurance Export (“BpiAE”) and Euler Hermes-covered facilities in April 2018. The Company is about to the final part of 2nd ECA-tranche.

As of December 31, 2018, Line 6 Smelter’s Overall Progress exceeded 80% (Engineering progressed by more than 97% while Contracts and Procurement advanced by 98%); Power Station 5 & Power Distribution System Overall Progress advanced by 83% and by over 96% 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 also present many co-investment opportunities through local and foreign aluminium investments in the Kingdom of Bahrain.