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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (62434)	4/2/2010 12:52:46 AM
From: TobagoJack	6 Recommendations Read Replies (9) \| Respond to of 218083

my academica father, being 53 years my senior (advantage of being kid of older fathers) calmly advised that i should either (i) do apprenticeship in some trade, or (ii) work on some invention i.e. cereal bowl whereby the cereal always stay crisp, coming into contact with milk immediately preceding being chumped on my father was adorable, and a very fortunate man to have made it to good old age in relative comfort, after surviving much drama my mom was (i) in shock (ii) very quiet (iii) re-engaged with cigarette that afternoon of discovery (iv) explained to me why i must shape up in school immediately (v) visited all teachers with me in reluctant toll i said ok, i will work on my next book reports with diligence, choosing "crime n punishment" and "war n peace", thinking they were detective and war books. i simply was beyond understanding. in history class, the teacher asked the class about the ancient greeks, and i, out of daydream, responded, "yes, i think we do have too much homework". the bad grades continued to poor in. my highschool test indicated i should seek career in trucking. i doubt trucking would have worked out for me. one day i got a 100 on a pop math quiz, and it felt good. i looked around me, and in a high school of 700 graduating class, my math class had 6 students, and they even looked stupid, except the girl, she was cute, but certainly an airhead. but the 100 mark felt good, even as 10th grade was nearly over. i proceeded to A+ all subjects, and do advanced placement on all science and math course, gaining teachers' permissions by pleading with sincerity. by graduation time, i elevated my F average to C- average. it was the improvement curve that the universities focussed on, not the grade point average. my sat and achievement test scores and such were just slightly above then average. i doubt a similar stunt can pass the gauntlet today. should my kids do same to themselves as i did to myself, i as father would freak, and be very quiet on discovery day as well. whew :0) it was close. throughout my college times i had closer calls, especially into the final mile, even as i did graduate undergraduate in 3 years and nailed 2 masters degrees within 24 months. thinking back, my scalp go numb with fear due to delayed recognition of direness. i did not invite my parents to my dual-masters degree graduation ceremony, because until called on stage, i did not know i was even going to graduate and receive the paperworks. my parents did not find out the reason until about 10 years after my college graduation :0) so, again, whew. thus i say alot, "god likes me". my biggest take-away from schooling was, is, and always would be, "talk to people, for they generally want to help, especially when it is exceedingly easy for them to help, and extremely impossible for you to do without their very easy help".

To: energyplay who wrote (62434)	4/4/2010 9:52:54 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 218083

GCC is now the hottest aluminium hub outside China. Three new smelters have opened in the GCC since the summer of 2008. GCC ponders aluminium future meed.com Three new smelters have opened in the GCC since the summer of 2008. The region is now the hottest aluminium hub outside China Echoing trends seen in most global commodities, the aluminium price, which tanked to $1,200 a tonne at the start of March last year, is now firmly settled at above $2,200 a tonne. World aluminium demand slumped by 15 per cent in 2009 to barely 34 million tonnes. Consumption is forecast to rise by 15 per cent this year and by at least 10 per cent in 2011. For producers of the metal, the downturn is definitely over. The rebound in demand and prices has come at the right time for the new smelters of the GCC. On 20 December, production started at Qatalum’s 585,000 tonne-a-year (t/y) smelter in Mesaieed. Less than a month later, Emirates Aluminium (Emal), which also started operating in December, delivered its first metal to a customer. The 700,000-t/y plant is the largest aluminium unit built in a single phase. Qatalum and Emal join three existing GCC aluminium smelters: the 385,000 t/y Sohar Aluminium plant started producing in the summer of 2008. Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) announced on 17 March that its annual production rose above 1 million tonnes for the first time in 2009. Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), which first opened in 1971, is estimated to have made almost 900,000 tonnes of metal last year. By the end of 2010, the total operating capacity of the GCC’s five smelters should have risen to almost 10 per cent of the world total. These are changing times for world aluminium. China, which accounts for more than 30 per cent of primary production, remains the global giant. But the GCC since the end of last year has firmly established itself as an important source of the metal. No one outside China has invested more in the industry in the past five years. The case for Gulf aluminium rests on the fact that it has access to abundant and competitively-price energy. This has been enhanced by the region’s sound infrastructure and location close to buoyant emerging markets. But as delegates at MEED’s Middle East Aluminium 2010 conference in Dubai heard last week, these three advantages are no longer seen as decisive. The region will only invest more in the industry if there is proof that making aluminium is the best way for the GCC to use its gas reserves. The energy constraint is a serious impediment to further large-scale expansion in some GCC states. MEED reported in the September that Alba had suspended plans for a major expansion, at least partly because of doubts about whether converting gas into aluminium, rather than using it for other purposes, makes sense. Speaking at the MEED conference in Dubai, Sohar Aluminium chief executive Bruce Hall presented the case for the smelter to be expanded. But Oman’s government is also facing gas challenges. Saudi Arabia, which is developing the aluminium supply chain from bauxite to smelter, is expected to award contracts soon for an alumina plant, the first in the Gulf. The final green light is yet to be given for the aluminium smelter planned to be built next door at Ras al-Zour. Even Qatar, is asking people to wait for the findings of a study into its long-term potential of its North Field, the world’s largest non-associated gas reservoir. Meanwhile, Emal — a partnership between Dubal and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company — is beginning to set the pace for the rest of the region. It’s started testing the appetite of the banking market for its 700,000 t/y, second phase. And Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (ADBIC) unveiled at MEED’s conference plans for an aluminium park around Emal which will accommodate downstream industries. Projects announced include a joint venture rod and conductor plant with Bahrain’s Midal Cable; a 50,000 t/y aluminium extrusion manufacturer with the Gulf Extrusions Company of Dubai and a 500,000 t/y rolling mill. Confident that it will have enough gas to support what will be the Middle East’s biggest integrated aluminium hub, Abu Dhabi believes aluminium will deliver several benefits. It will displace imports, generate export earnings and create thousands of high-tech jobs. Like other Gulf aluminium makers, the emirate is looking beyond primary metal production. The Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC), the new regional industry grouping formally launched at MEED’s Dubai conference, will focus attention on the challenges that will emerge as aluminium’s role in the regional economy grows. Transferring technology and developing an aluminium talent pool are among the top priorities. Its six founding members are the five operating smelting companies plus the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), which is developing the kingdom’s aluminium industry. The GAC expresses the GCC’s conviction that aluminium is one of the cornerstones of the region’s economic diversification programme. It is evidence that GCC states are increasingly prepared to work together. And it is a signal to the world that Gulf aluminium is a force that it must now take properly into account