Claim that UAE aluminium site shut after Iranian attack

• Wood Mackenzie research note
• Al Taweelah facility hit at weekend
• Bahrain’s Alba operating at ’30 percent’

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA)’s Al Taweelah facility in the United Arab Emirates halted operations after an Iranian missile and drone attack on Saturday damaged a power plant, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in a research note on Wednesday.

A smelter belonging to Aluminium Bahrain – Alba – which was also targeted on Saturday, “sustained significant damages and is expected to operate at an estimated utilisation of 30 percent”, Wood Mackenzie said.

EGA and Alba had said at the weekend they were assessing the extent of the damage to their sites, without specifying what had been affected.

An EGA spokesperson had no update on operations when asked to comment on Wood Mackenzie’s note. Alba did not reply to a request for comment.

Wood Mackenzie’s press office said its information was sourced from the consultancy’s contacts in the Middle East, but declined to provide further details.

Al Taweelah, in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, has an aluminium smelter with a capacity of roughly 1.5 million metric tonnes per year, and an alumina refinery. Alba’s capacity of 1.6 million tonnes per year in Bahrain makes it the world’s biggest single-site aluminium smelter.

“The ongoing Middle East conflict is triggering a critical supply crisis in the global aluminium market, with disruptions potentially removing 3 to 3.5 million tonnes of output in 2026,” Wood Mackenzie said.

The world produced just under 74 million tonnes of primary aluminium last year.

Further reading:

• Aluminium nears four-year peak after Iran attacks Gulf smelters
• ‘Calm has returned’ to Gulf aluminium with Hormuz reroute
• Gulf aluminium producers feel the heat from Iran war