Global Trade
January 26, 2026
Century joins EGA in Oklahoma smelter project
Written by Stephanie Ritenbaugh
Century Aluminum announced Monday that it is taking a 40% stake in Emirates Global Aluminium’s (EGA) project to build the first primary smelter in the US since the 1980s.
EGA, which will own 60% of the joint venture, first proposed building the smelter in Inola, Okla., in 2025. The facility is expected to produce 750,000 tons of aluminum per year—an amount that would more than double current US production. That capacity total has been revised up from 600,000 tons per year.
“Key industries, such as automotive, aerospace, construction, packaging and importantly, national defense, stand to benefit greatly from this expanded production of this critical metal, which will create thousands of new American manufacturing jobs,” Jesse Gary, CEO of Century Aluminum, said in a statement.
Construction is expected to begin by the end of this year, with production starting by the end of the decade.
Detailed engineering work is underway, and negotiations with Public Service Company of Oklahoma and the state of Oklahoma on a competitive long-term power supply are progressing, the companies said.
“We have made great progress preparing for the start of construction in Inola, and welcome Century as a partner in this important project for the future of American industry and now both our companies,” Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of EGA, said in a statement.
The Inola plant is expected to create 1,000 permanent direct jobs at the facility and 4,000 jobs during construction.
“Both parties will now solely focus their greenfield development efforts in the United States on the Inola, Okla., site,” the companies said in a press release.
In 2024, Century Aluminum was awarded up to $500 million for a green aluminum smelter to be located n Kentucky or the Ohio-Mississippi River basins. Century did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
The plant will be built at the industrial park at Tulsa Port of Inola on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which is connected to the Mississippi River system.
