Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro has promoted Johan Berg to chief operations officer (COO) for its joint venture with Qatar Aluminium (Qatalum). He will replace Olaf Wigstol.
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Berg has been the plant manager at Hydro Husnes, Brazil, since 2017 and played a pivotal role in restarting production line B at the facility. Before joining Hydro, Berg has worked in the aluminum industry for 15 years, in management roles at Alcoa, Elkem, and Aluminium Metal. He will join Qatalum as its COO on Jul 1, reporting to Khalid Mohammed Laram, chief executive officer. Hydro is still looking for Berg’s replacement at Husnes.
Qatalum is a 50-50 joint venture between Hydro and Qatar Petroleum, which operates an aluminum smelter in Mesaieed, Qatar near the capital city of Doha. The plant currently produces over 600,000mt of primary aluminum in a year, with plans to scale up to 1.2mn mt, according to the company’s website.