Qatar and Norsk Hydro have awarded General Electric and Doosan Heavy Industries a contract to build a 1,250 megawatt power plant for an aluminium smelter, the companies said.

Their joint statement gave no details on the value of the contract. A Norsk Hydro executive said last month it would be worth an estimated $700 million.

The power plant is to supply electricity to the $4.5 billion Qatalum project, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norway's Hydro.

Qatar, which has the world's third largest gas reserves, has ploughed billions of dollars into steel, petrochemicals and fertiliser plants as it looks to diversify its economy from oil and gas.

The power plant is due on stream in September 2009 to meet the target for first metal production in December 2009, the statement said.

The metal plant will have capacity to produce 585,000 tonnes per year of aluminium products for the export market and the GCC region, the statement said.

The partners have discussed boosting capacity at a later date to 1.2 million tonnes, but have yet to conclude a deal.

 The plant will be built at Mesaieed Industrial City.

Hydro and Qatar Petroleum each have a 50 per cent stake in Qatalum. Qatar Petroleum will supply the smelter with natural gas. Reuters