Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has announced that it is to undertake a feasiblity study to investigate the expansion of its plant to incorporate a sixth production line.
The company said that it expects production within its current year to exceed last year’s figure of 881,310 metric tonnes (MT), so a decision was taken at its board meeting to carry out the feasibility study.
Alba chairman Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji said: “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.”
The addition of an extra line is expected to increase the plant’s capacity by 400,000 MT to 1.3m MT.
A new report for The Aluminium Middle East trade show suggests that investments by companies in the Gulf Co-Operation Council into aluminium production facilities is likely to reach $55bn over the next ten years.
Currently, the combined aluminium output of the GCC countries is around 3.6m MT per year – or 10% of the world’s total. It suggests that GCC production is likely to climb to 9m MT per year by 2022 – or 15-17% of global output.