ZURICH (Reuters) -- Swiss engineering giant ABB said on Monday it had been awarded a 140 million dollars contract by Qatalum to construct what is expected to be the world’s largest aluminum plant to be built in one phase.

Qatalum is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norway’s Hydro Aluminum.
The Greenfield Qatalum project in Qatar will include an aluminum smelter with a capacity of 585,000 tons per year. Deliveries to the Qatalum site will begin in the fourth quarter of 2008, with metal production set to start in late 2009.
ABB will supply a high-voltage power rectifier station as well as high-voltage cabling.
The smelter will be located in the Mesaieed Industrial City, which is around 40 kilometers south of Qatar’s capital Doha.
The order was booked at the end of the second quarter 2007, ABB said.
There are larger aluminum plants in the world, but they have had capacity added on over the years