Reuters reported that Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro had declared force majeure for aluminium deliveries from its Qatalum smelter in Qatar after a power failure delayed the plant's ramp up schedule.
Declaring force majeure frees companies from contractual obligations due to events beyond their control.
Mr Thomas Knutzen spokesman of Norsk Hydro said that in certain markets affected by the Qatalum stoppage, we unfortunately have had to declare force majeure.
Qatalum, 50 50 venture between Qatar Petroleum and the Norwegian aluminium firm had a sudden shutdown of production early due to a power outage.
Some analysts said that the force majeure notice was unsurprising given that the power outage caused a significant drop in temperature in the plant's reduction cells. The company said that full capacity will not be reached this year as had been expected.
Mr Stephen Briggs an analyst at BNP Paribas said that the declaration of force majeure is really just formalizing the earlier news that production will be less.