Jul 12 2007
Qatalum, the new aluminium smelter company in Qatar, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Hydro Aluminium AS, has awarded the contract for its 1250 MW Power Plant to a consortium integrated of General Electric and Doosan Heavy Industries Construction Co., Ltd.
The EPC Contract was signed on behalf of Qatar Petroleum by Mr. Abdulla H. Salatt — Chairman of the Qatalum Executive Committee — and on behalf of Hydro Aluminium Jon-Harald Nilsen — also a member of the Qatalum Executive Committee.
The Consortium of GE/Doosan was selected as the winner after a competitive international bidding process with the participation of the major equipment manufacturers in the world.
The Qatalum Power Plant will use natural gas provided by Qatar Petroleum under a long-term supply agreement. The facility will be a combined cycle unit with a configuration that includes four F-Class gas turbines plus two steam turbines. The new power plant shall meet the strictest environmental standards set by SCENR (the environmental regulatory body for Qatar).
According to the project schedule, the new power plant will start operations in September 2009 in order to meet the scheduled first liquid metal production by December 2009.
The signature of the Power Plant Contract is a major milestone in the development of the new aluminium smelter in Qatar. Qatalum will be a state-of-art installation with the capacity to produce 585,000 metric tonnes of high-quality aluminium products for the export market, including the GCC region.
The smelter project and its associated power plant is in line with Qatar’s strategy to diversify the use of its natural resources, by establishing basic industries in the country with the potential to develop value-added metallurgical and manufacturing industries downstream of the aluminium plant.
Once developed, Qatalum will be the largest facility of its type ever built as a single project. In the design of the new smelter, the owners have already contemplated an expansion to double the capacity of the plant to produce 1.2 million metric tonnes of aluminium per year.
During its construction phase at the Mesaieed Industrial City, Qatalum will generate approximately 5,500 new jobs, and once in full operation during 2010, Qatalum will have 1,000 permanent employees.