Norsk Hydro May Scrap Australian Smelter Expansion, ABC Says

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Norsk Hydro ASA may cancel a planned A$4 billion ($2.6 billion) upgrade of an Australian aluminum smelter because of costs from the government’s proposed emissions trading system, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said. Norsk would need to spend as much as A$180 million on its Kurri Kurri plant in New South Wales state’s Hunter Valley by 2030 to comply with the system, ABC said on its Web site, citing the company’s submission to an Australian Senate inquiry on fuel and energy. Cancelling the expansion would mean a loss of 3,000 permanent jobs and 15,000 construction jobs, Norsk was cited as saying by ABC. Draft legislation to introduce carbon trading aims to cut Australia’s emissions by between 5 percent and 15 percent of 2000 levels by 2020, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said yesterday. Oslo-based Norsk is Europe’s second-largest aluminum producer. To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at Jscott14@bloomberg.net