Line 6 Expansion Project

The pride of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project has made the world’s largest aluminium smelter on one site – 1.62 million metric tonnes (MT) as of 2023.

Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project was one of the biggest brownfield developments in the Middle East Region. With a CAPEX of approximately US$3 billion, the Line 6 Expansion Project involved the construction of a sixth pot line using EGA’s proprietary DX+ Ultra Technology (adding 540,000 metric tonnes to Alba’s nameplate production capacity of 1 million MT), 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.

Line 6 number of pots = 424

Line 6 Pot Current = 440 kA

Line 6 length = 1.35 km

Alba Potline 6 was commissioned on 13 December 2018, ahead of schedule, with the delivery of the First Hot Metal.

Bechtel was 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 EUR204.5 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.

Line 6 Expansion Project was transformational for the Kingdom of Bahrain as it boosted employment opportunities for Bahrainis at both Alba and the local downstream market. It presented many co-investment opportunities through local and foreign aluminium investments in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Line 6 Expansion Project involved 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.

Mumtalakat being a major shareholder

Completed

Alba site (Askar)