Oman’s Sohar Aluminum grew its annual hot metal aluminum production capacity by 2.8pc last year, climbing to 390,516mt from 379,775mt in 2018.
Eng Said bin Mohammed al Masoudi, the company’s chief executive officer, said the record output was a result of improvements made in 2018, along with a maintenance shutdown in 2017 that deflated output to 252,714mt.
Forty percent of total production was shipped to domestic downstream aluminum producers, totaling about 158,000mt. The company predicts local consumption will rise to 60pc this year.
Sohar Aluminum is jointly owned by the Omani government, which carries a 40pc stake, Abu Dhabi National Energy, which also owns 40pc, and Rio Tinto owning the remainder.