Norsk Hydro

Qatalum is preparing for an imminent restart of primary aluminium production,
following a power outage in early August this year. The plant is expected to
reach full capacity by the end of the first quarter 2011.

The clean-out of the 444 cells that were affected by the power outage is well
underway, and the planned restart is expected to commence by mid-September.

The primary aluminium production in the Qatalum plant has been shut down since a
power outage on August 9, lasting for nearly five hours, halted primary
production. The Qatalum organization has since, with the strong support of both
owners, focused on preparing the cells for a safe and secure restart,
investigating the causes and effects of the incident and implementing mitigating
actions.

According to external and internal experts investigating the incident, the
long-lasting outage was due to unexpected technical difficulties in restarting
the power plant after it was closed down by an external earth fault, which also
disrupted Qatalum''s connection to the national grid in Qatar.

Despite strong efforts to restore power supply, the duration of the outage
caused the cells to cool down and the liquids to solidify. The primary aluminium
production was subsequently shut down.

The root causes of the incident have been identified and are being rectified.

"I am pleased that Qatalum now is in the position to resume production shortly.
It is of course most unfortunate that such a setback should hit us now, as we
were in good progress of ramping up the plant towards full production. At the
same time we are glad that the events did not lead to any injuries," says
Abdulla Salatt, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

"Our prime objective is to prevent similar incidents in the future, and I am
confident that we have technical solutions and routines in order to achieve
this. The Qatalum organization has put in a tremendous effort in mitigating the
consequences of this unfortunate incident. Internal and external resources have
been mobilized to ensure a safe and quick restart. Regional smelters provided
support and shared expertise, equipment and materials," says Qatalum''s CEO Jan
Arve Haugan.

"Qatalum, supported by Hydro as responsible for marketing of Qatalum''s products,
has been able to meet the bulk of the planned August shipments to customers in
Asia, both for foundry alloys and extrusion ingots," Haugan says. "The Qatalum
cast house has stepped up remelting of cold metal sourced from external
suppliers, while Hydro has postponed planned maintenance and increased
production at other plants."

Qatalum''s insurance coverage related to the incident is considered robust.

"We have insurance related to property damage and loss due to business
interruption and we are in a constructive dialogue with our insurers to
determine the financial impacts of this incident," Haugan says.

Qatalum is a 50-50 joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norsk Hydro ASA.
When complete, it will be one of the most modern, energy-efficient and
environmentally high-performing aluminium plant in the world, with an annual
production capacity of 585,000 tonnes of aluminium. The plant has a total of
704 cells.

Investor contact in Hydro
Contact   Stefan Solberg
Cellular   +47 91727528
E-mail   Stefan.Solberg@hydro.com

Press contact in Hydro
Contact   Halvor Molland
Cellular   +47 92979797
E-mail   Halvor.Molland@hydro.com


                     *********
Certain statements included within this announcement contain forward-looking
information, including, without limitation, those relating to (a) forecasts,
projections and estimates, (b) statements of management''s plans, objectives and
strategies for Hydro, such as planned expansions, investments or other projects,
(c) targeted production volumes and costs, capacities or rates, start-up costs,
cost reductions and profit objectives, (d) various expectations about future
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extent to which a particular projection is realized.  Factors that could cause
these differences include, but are not limited to: our continued ability to
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