Alcoa curtails production at Norway's Lista aluminium smelter for soaring energy prices

Alcoa has decided to decrease one-third production capacity of the Lista aluminium smelter in Norway because of the aggravating energy prices in Europe and also for the heightened operational costs of the particular site.

The Lista smelter houses three potlines with an annual net yield of 94,000 tonnes and easing the capacity of one potline producing 31,000 tonnes would be achieved immediately within a time span of 14 days at the most.

Alcoa claims that 65 per cent of its international smelting grounds are powered by long-term energy agreements with the London Metal Exchange aluminium pricing structure, 30 per cent of which is either fixed priced or self-generated rates. Others are exposed to short-term market outputs just like the Lista smelter, making operations quite difficult at the moment.

At present, the energy cost of the Lista smelter site is huge, more than US$600 per MWh, which is due to spot energy pricing.

Alcoa had signed a long-term energy supply deal with Norwegian power provider Statkraft in 2019, confirming the purchase of almost 440 GWh per year until the year 2026.

The ongoing war has plunged the entire European territory into a state of uncertainty with commodity and energy prices soaring high above the reach of an individual. Big industries are not secure from the blows of a crumbling economy.

Only recently, Alcoa was facing extreme hostility on the grounds of its Mosjøen aluminium smelter in Norway.