Norsk Hydro plans to go in Qatar

Norway's Norsk Hydro and state-owned Qatar Petroleum decided to to build one of the world's top aluminium smelters in Qatar by end-2008. A planned 570ktpy aluminium smelter is likely to be expanded even beyond current plans, but Hydro is not aware of any existing or planned smelters exceeding a million tpy. Norsk Hydro thinks that this plant will be a key for its globalisation strategy, which includes a need for cheaper electricity than is available in Europe. (www.aluplanet.com - 04/15/05)