[ferro-alloys.com]With an October 23 deadline looming for possible US sanctions on Russian aluminum maker Rusal, some customers are making alternate purchase plans for 2019 that could cause Alcoa to bring more smelting capacity online, a senior Alcoa official said Wednesday.

William Oplinger, chief financial officer at the Pittsburgh-based company, told Morgan Stanley's 6th Annual Laguna Conference in California that Rusal is in the crosshairs with aluminum-buying decisions under review for next year.

While acknowledging it is difficult to know if the US government will impose sanctions on Rusal next month, Oplinger said Alcoa is "starting to see customers consider if in fact those sanctions will be in place. At least in the near term, they are making contingency plans to not buy from Rusal in 2019."

If Rusal is sanctioned, Alcoa has "some flexibility" to respond, Oplinger said. "We have smelting capacity in the US that can be restarted if the dynamics are right. We're in the process of restarting three lines at Warrick in Evansville, Indiana. We've successfully restarted two lines and will restart the third before the end of the year."

Alcoa also has excess capacity at its 279,000 mt/year Intalco smelter in Ferndale, Washington, and conceivably could restart its idled 184,000 mt/year Wenatchee smelter in Malago, Washington, as well, he said.

He also said Alcoa "will consider" restarting its idled 2.3 million mt/year Point Comfort aluminum refinery in Texas if Rusal is sanctioned.

He added: "We do have some flexibility. Let's get to October 23 and see what happens."

In other issues, Oplinger said that although Alcoa has lost about 15,000 mt of production since a strike by unionized Alcoa workers in western Australia began August 8, the company remains determined to resolve the dispute.

• [Editor:王可]