News & Information

A Note from Managing Director, Alcoa of Australia

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Dear Valued Stakeholder

With the on-going gas crisis in WA challenging us all, and Alcoa's name frequently appearing in the media, I thought it appropriate to drop you a line to clarify our situation.

Since the Apache incident at Varanus Island on 3 June, Alcoa of Australia has been working hard to minimise the disruption to our operations and employment by, for example, bringing forward planned maintenance and using alternative fuels.

We are cooperating with the WA government's taskforce that is managing the WA gas supply issue by providing all information they need about our operations to assist with their analysis of the overall energy situation. We have also made available our internal gas and energy experts to be consulted as needed, as have other industrial companies affected by this event. 

We are mindful of the gas needs of the broader community and support the State's efforts to preserve the community's fuel supply, and we are encouraging all our employees to engage in our Make an Impact energy reduction program, to reduce our personal usage.

The WA gas supply issue reinforces the need for domestic energy security. A couple of weeks ago, Alcoa demonstrated its commitment to finding solutions to the energy challenge by announcing its joint venture with Latent Petroleum to explore for tight gas in the Perth basin. The venture has the potential to change the energy supply landscape in Western Australia and meets WA and industry needs to respond to climate change with clean energy sources.

We are confident going forward that Alcoa will make it through this situation with minimal impact on our people, and we will continue to work with our customers and other valued stakeholders to minimize the impact on their businesses.

Please continue to visit www.alcoa.com.au for our latest information on this issue, and other news from Alcoa of Australia.

Kind regards
Alan

Alan Cransberg
Managing Director
Alcoa of Australia

Background information:

• Apache supplies approximately 25%-30% of Alcoa’s energy supplies.
• Alcoa is still receiving gas from its other supplier, North West Shelf Gas.
• Alcoa of Australia recently notified its customers that it was declaring force majeure under its alumina supply contracts, following a declaration of force majeure by Apache to all its customers. The full extent of impacts to Alcoa customers is yet to be determined.
• Updates as we have them are available on the homepage of www.alcoa.com.au