Century Aluminum stopping operations due to the rise in energy prices

[JCSR]

This a major employer in my area. Due to the rise in global energy prices. FJB

628 Hawesville smelter layoffs expected​

Century Aluminum stopping operations in Hawesville for 9 to 12 months

This will mean layoffs for 628 Hawesville smelter employees, including 504 union members.

www.14news.com

 

[Mikey1911]

This a major employer in my area. Due to the rise in global energy prices. FJB

628 Hawesville smelter layoffs expected​

Century Aluminum stopping operations in Hawesville for 9 to 12 months

This will mean layoffs for 628 Hawesville smelter employees, including 504 union members.

www.14news.com

That will leave Alcoa Warrick Operations in Newburgh IN and Century Aluminum (ex-Anaconda, ex-Alcan, ex- Rio Tinto/Alcan) in Sebree KY still operating - but for how long?

Alcoa should be last to shut down because it owns its own generating capacity with the Warrick Power Plant.

FJB and everyone in his mal-Administration with freshly removed red-hot spent carbon anodes.

p.s. Not long ago, Century was advertising its pride in the "fact" that its Hawesville metal was so "high purity" that it was in particular demand for military applications.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

This a major employer in my area. Due to the rise in global energy prices. FJB

628 Hawesville smelter layoffs expected​

Century Aluminum stopping operations in Hawesville for 9 to 12 months

This will mean layoffs for 628 Hawesville smelter employees, including 504 union members.

www.14news.com

Yeah….

Unfortunately, an unprecedented rise in global energy prices arising from the Russian war in Ukraine has dramatically increased the price of energy in the U.S, and l around the globe.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Yeah….

Unfortunately, an unprecedented rise in global energy prices arising from the Russian war in Ukraine has dramatically increased the price of energy in the U.S, and l around the globe.

Also from the article:

"Jesse Gary, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “This unprecedented rise in global energy prices arising from the Russian war in Ukraine has dramatically increased the price of energy in the U.S. and around the globe. The power cost required to run our Hawesville, KY, facility has more than tripled the historical average in a very short period."

Russia, Russia, Russia anyone? Has nothing to do with the idiotic policies which this administration has implemented? Sounds like the company is run by Democrat apologists.

 

[rooster]

They built those plants on the river near the coal plants for a reason…..now the coal plants are shut down

 

[KokomoDave]

FJB

 

[JCSR]

If only there was a way for the U.S. to be energy independent............

 

[DoggyDaddy]

They built those plants on the river near the coal plants for a reason…..now the coal plants are shut down

And the coal plants shutting down has absolutely nothing to do with Russia and the Ukraine. It has everything to do with Democrat policy goals.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

If only there was a way for the U.S. to be energy independent............

IKR? Seems like only a couple of years ago that that was the case. Wonder what changed?

 

[armalitesheepdog]

We went from energy exporter to energy importer in 18 months.

Thanks Brandon

 

[snorko]

They've been fighting with the local utility for a while. I don't remember the specifics but it was at least a year ago that their rates were set to increase significantly.

 

[BugI02]

They built those plants on the river near the coal plants for a reason…..now the coal plants are shut down

China To Build 43 New Coal-Fired Power Plants

The report reckons that these new coal plants and blast furnaces will add 150 million tonnes to China’s CO2 emissions. This is roughly half the UK’s total emissions.

wattsupwiththat.com

Not only can we be certain that they will not interrupt their adversary (us) while we are making a mistake but they will actively capitalize on that mistake and no one will call them on it

China is planning to build 43 new coal-fired power plants and 18 new blast furnaces — equivalent to adding about 1.5% to its current annual emissions — according to a new report.

 

[JCSR]

They've been fighting with the local utility for a while. I don't remember the specifics but it was at least a year ago that their rates were set to increase significantly.

Correct. This may be a plan to get public support and try to force lower rates. We will see.

 

[Knight Rider]

I have zero inside info but I call BS. My company uses tons of aluminum extrusions every month. Our suppliers have doubled prices in the last year and close to tripled lead times. We wait. We absorb what increase we can and we pass along the rest to our customers. Everyone pays roughly the same for energy.

This seems like just an excuse or negotiation tactic. Regardless, I’m sorry for their employees and hope they can find new work quickly. Elkhart in hiring!

 

[DoggyDaddy]

China To Build 43 New Coal-Fired Power Plants

The report reckons that these new coal plants and blast furnaces will add 150 million tonnes to China’s CO2 emissions. This is roughly half the UK’s total emissions.

wattsupwiththat.com

Not only can we be certain that they will not interrupt their adversary (us) while we are making a mistake but they will actively capitalize on that mistake and no one will call them on it

Don't you know that China is a third world country, so they don't have to play by the rules imposed by things like the Paris Accord?

 

[BigRed]

If only there was a way for the U.S. to be energy independent............

Burn the politicians?

 

[Mikey1911]

Burn the politicians?

---

Insufficient BTU/lb. content!

 

[BigRed]

---

Insufficient BTU/lb. content!

Meh... Consider all the energy and Liberty it would free up.

 

[Mikey1911]

If I'm correctly reading the MISO contour map of per-KWH prices, right now everything along the Ohio River in the Louisville-Owensboro-Evansville corridor is in the neighborhood of 9.55 cents per KWH (95.5 mills/KWH). The most efficient Hall-Heroult electrolytic cells will produce aluminum at between 6.0 and 6.5 KWH/lb.; the pots in the Ohio Valley smelters are more likely to be in the 6.5 to 7.0 KWH/lb. class.

So, with 95 mill power, the best case for 6.5 KWH/lb. smelters is a power cost of 61.75 cents per pound, or about $1361 per metric ton.

With 40 mill power, we're looking at 26 cents per pound, or about $573 per metric ton.

A substantial difference, no?--particularly with the price of primary aluminum at only $2463/metric ton today. Kind of eats into your profit margin.

And the nature of the Hall-Heroult smelting process precludes the ability to shut down production for hours or days to avoid high energy costs.

De-energization of a potline for more than two hours causes massive disruption to the process; over four hours without power will almost always require a total shutdown of the line, after which the solidified metal and electrolyte must be manually dug out of the pots before the line can be restarted. Rough estimates for restart costs are in the area of $30-50 million for a smelter the size of Century's or Alcoa's plants.

I would suspect that Century's business case for operating its smelters would have been similar to Alcoa's, in that power prices above 40 mills/KWH were going to make smelters run at a loss (particularly when the ChiComs are running their smelters flat-out with minimal to no emission controls and depressing the worldwide market price for aluminum ingot).

"He who tries to live by the spot market, may die by the spot market."

 

[BehindBlueI's]

We went from energy exporter to energy importer in 18 months.

Thanks Brandon

Note total exports month to month. Where's the decline in exports?

https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1_10.pdf

I keep telling you guys to buy stocks in midstream providers. This is why. All that natural gas doesn't magic itself to ports, the 'toll' providers pay to use the pipelines are indexed to inflation, and the underlying assets are safe. Passive income is there for those who read the data and act...