Emirates Global Aluminium has made significant progress in restarting production at its Al Taweelah plant in Abu Dhabi, three months after it sustained extensive damage in an Iranian drone attack.
EGA, among the largest UAE non-oil industrial conglomerates, has achieved key milestones ahead of its internal restoration schedule to restart operations at the multibillion-dollar production facility, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The company had initially estimated the repairs would take up to a year to finish.
“We are rapidly and safely actioning a clear, disciplined plan to restore production at Al Taweelah, which is one of the most important aluminium production complexes in the world,” Abdulnasser bin Kalban, chief executive of EGA, said.
The production unit at the Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi, hit on March 28, had sustained “significant damage”. The site, including the smelter and cast house, power plant, alumina refinery and recycling plant, was fully evacuated and its centres entered emergency shutdown, the company said in an April 3 statement. Two people were injured in the attack.
On April 12, the company declared force majeure for certain products due to the shutdown and said it is doing everything it can to support its customers “during this difficult period”. Force majeure clauses allow suppliers to suspend contractual obligations without penalty when events beyond their control prevent delivery.
Progress
EGA said its dedicated team for restoration and restart of the Al Taweelah facilities had already made significant progress in terms of repairs to the damaged infrastructure.
Basic utilities have been restored across the site, with natural gas and electricity availability projected to increase in line with the needs of the restart programme.
The company is progressively restoring each of the 1,262 reduction cells where pure aluminium is produced. The process of removing anodes that deliver electricity has been completed at all the reduction cells, and frozen metal has been removed from more than 20 per cent of the reduction cells, EGA said.
The company has restored 89 of its 1,262 reduction cells so far, and hot metal production will ramp up as the remaining cells are restored.
The entire process still “could take up to a year to reach pre-incident levels”; however, EGA is working to speed up the process. The company has not changed its overall estimate for a full recovery despite the faster-than-expected progress.
“All opportunities to accelerate the timeline further are being explored, and we will achieve our goal of emerging stronger than ever before,” Mr bin Kalban said.
