as ose nhy otcqx nhydy industry metals founded 1905 headquarters oslo norway key people svein richard brandtz g president and ceo dag mejdell chairman products aluminium and related products ; hydropower and solar power technologies revenue nok 75.75 billion 2010 1 operating income nok 3.184 billion 2010 1 net income nok 1.888 billion 2010 1 total assets nok 88.79 billion end 2010 1 total equity nok 57.25 billion end 2010 1 number of employees 23 000 end 2010 1 website www.hydro.com the norsk hydro plant at her ya norway norsk hydro asa often referred to as just hydro is a norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company headquartered in oslo . hydro is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide . it has operations in some 50 countries around the world and is active on all continents . the norwegian state owns 43.8 % of the company through the ministry of trade and industry . a further 6.5 % is owned by folketrygdfond which administers the government pension fund of norway . norsk hydro employs approximately 12 500 people . 2 svein richard brandtz g has been the ceo since 2009 . the company had a significant presence in the oil and gas industry until october 2007 when these operations were merged with rival statoil to form statoilhydro in 2009 changed back to statoil . contents 1 history 1.1 the first steps with fertilizer 1.2 heavy water production at rjukan 1.3 the first metal 1.4 into the petroleum age 2 operations 2.1 aluminium 2.2 energy 2.3 hydro agri 3 chief executive officers 4 references 5 external links history edit the first steps with fertilizer edit financed by the swedish wallenberg family and french banks the company was founded on december 2 1905 as norsk hydro elektrisk kv lstofaktieselskab lit . norwegian hydro electric nitrogen limited by sam eyde exploiting a novel technology for producing artificial fertilizers by fixing nitrogen from air . the technology had been developed by the norwegian scientist kristian birkeland . the method is still known as the birkeland eyde process . the process required large amounts of electric energy and for this a power plant was built at the svelgfossen waterfall near notodden . later also rjukan falls was developed and its power harnessed in the process establishing the city of rjukan establishing the plant norsk hydro rjukan . hydro s first factory was built at notodden opened in 1907 followed up with another at rjukan tinn opened in 1911 . then in 1912 production is established at glomfjord in nordland . in 1930 norsk hydro opened a plant at her ya outside porsgrunn . to begin with it was to function as a shipping port for the fertilizer as well as a point to import limestone . from 1936 hydro also started producing fertilizer at her ya . there was also opened a railway rjukanbanen connecting rjukan with h r y. the railway opened in 1909 and consisted of a railway ferry across lake tinn railway again with tinnosbanen and a barge ride from borgestad to her ya with barge on the telemark canal . the canal was superseded by the railway line bratsbergbanen in 1916 . by the 1920s norsk hydro s electric arc based technology for manufacturing artificial fertilizer was no longer able to compete with the newly developed haber bosch process and in 1927 the company formed a partnership with the german company ig farben in order to gain access to this process . by 1945 ig farben had become a majority shareholder in norsk hydro . the plant at her ya was a direct result of no longer being dependent on immediate proximity to the power sources . this provided the advantage of being able to have the plants and the shipping port in the same location as was the case with the her ya plant . heavy water production at rjukan edit main article norwegian heavy water sabotage heavy water sample made by norsk hydro the rjukan plant was the only location in europe which produced heavy water a component the allied powers in world war ii feared would be used as part of the german atomic bomb project and consequently was the target of several commando and air raids and a sabotage raid which eventually resulted in the plant s destruction and later reconstruction . the first metal edit the first steps towards light metal production came in 1940 when hydro started construction of a magnesium carbonate plant at her ya but the german invasion of norway stopped the plans . in 1941 the oslo consortium norwegian oslo konsortiet invested money equivalent to year 2014 norwegian kroner 172 million . 3 the consortium included thomas fearnley orkla fred olsen storebrand jens p. heyerdahl klaveness & co christopher kahrs kielland . 3 collaboration with the nazi german regime did not result in any company employees being convicted for collaboration after the war . 3 during the second world war norsk hydro collaborated with ig farben and nordische aluminium aktiengesellschaft nordag in building new aluminium and magnesium plants in support of the german war effort . the construction was however ended on july 24 1943 when an allied bombardment completely destroyed the facilities killing 55 construction workers . as germany s defeat became more likely norsk hydro started to tone down its collaborative relations with the occupier . in 1946 the rdal aluminium plant was opened operated by the state owned company rdal og sunndal verk . in a merger hydro acquired this company in 1986 in essence establishing the light metal division hydro aluminium . since 1919 there had first been zinc then aluminium production at glomfjord in northern norway . hydro bought the power plant in 1947 and started ammonia production there instead . in the 1950s hydro opened a new magnesium plant in her ya and in 1963 hydro started in cooperation with harvey aluminum a plant at karm y to produce aluminium . the plant called alnor was purchased in whole by hydro in 1973 . in 2000 hydro acquired wells aluminum a network of aluminium extrusion plants in the united states . two years later the company acquired the leading german aluminium producer vereinigte aluminium werke from the german utility company e.on and the french building systems company technal . hydro became a truly integrated aluminium company in 2011 when it acquired the aluminium assets owned by vale in brazil . this made hydro a significant player in bauxite mining and alumina refining . into the petroleum age edit main article hydro oil & gas in 1965 hydro joined elf aquitaine and six other french companies to form petronord to perform search for oil and gas in the north sea . hydro soon became a large company in the north sea petroleum industry and also became operator of a number of fields the first being oseberg . in 1969 hydro started its first international operations with a 25 % stake in a fertilizer plant in qatar . hydro acquired in the late 1980s the mobil service stations in norway sweden and denmark changing their name to hydro . in 1995 hydro merged its gas stations in norway and denmark with the texaco creating the joint venture hydrotexaco . the service station chain was sold in 2006 to reitangruppen . in 1999 hydro acquired norway s third largest petroleum company saga petroleum which had major upstream operations primarily in norway and the united kingdom . the british operations were later sold . hydro s fertilizer business was spun off as a separately stock listed company under the name of yara international on march 26 2004 . hydro distributed all its yara shares to hydro s shareholders and presently has no ownership in yara . in december 2006 norsk hydro revealed a proposal to merge their oil business with compatriate oil and gas company statoil . 4 under the rules of the eea the proposal was approved by the european union on may 3 2007 5 and by the norwegian parliament on june 8 2007 . 6 the merger was completed by 1 october 2007 . hydro s shareholders took 32.7 % of the new company statoilhydro shares . 5 operations edit aluminium edit hydro aluminum plant in commerce texas hydro is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide . in norway hydro has plants in rjukan raufoss vennesla karm y h yanger rdal husnes sunndals ra and holmestrand . the corporation also has many plants abroad including in germany and brazil . in 2010 hydro and qatar petroleum inaugurated their 50 50 joint venture qatalum located in qatar . it was the largest aluminium plant ever launched in one step . its annual capacity in september 2011 was 585 000 metric tons of primary aluminium 7 all to be shipped as value added aluminium casthouse products . a 1350 mw natural gas power plant was also built to ensure a stable supply of electricity . 8 in 2010 hydro acquired the brazilian bauxite alumina and aluminium production assets of vale an international mining and metals company . in september 2013 hydro combined its aluminium extrusion operations with that of sapa which is now a 50 50 joint venture between hydro and the norwegian company orkla . sapa group headquartered in oslo has 23 000 employees worldwide . energy edit hydro is a major producer of hydroelectric power in norway . to secure electricity for its aluminium production hydro has signed a power purchase agreement with the fosen vind wind farm which is scheduled to be fully operational in 2020 . under this agreement fosen vind will deliver around 0.6 twh in 2020 around 1.0 twh annually from 2021 2035 and 0.7 twh annually from 2036 2039 for a total of about 18 twh over a 20 year period . 9 hydro agri edit though hydro started off as a fertilizer producer and agricultural products was for a long time one of the companies major ventures the agricultural division was in 2004 demerged into the independent company yara international listed on the oslo stock exchange . chief executive officers edit 1905 1917 sam eyde 1918 1926 harald bjerke 1926 1941 axel aubert 1941 1956 bjarne eriksen 1956 1967 rolf stbye 1967 1977 johan b. holte 1977 1984 odd narud 1984 1991 torvild aakvaag 1991 2001 egil myklebust 2001 2009 eivind reiten 2009 svein richard brandtz g references edit a b c d e f annual report 2010 pdf . norsk hydro . retrieved 17 april 2011 . http www.hydro.com en investor relations reporting annual report 2013 hydro in figures 2013 a b c nazi tysklands venner mange prominente herrer tjente store penger p tysk samarbeid under krigen . etterp gikk de fri mens tyskert sene ble jaget . nazi germany s friends many prominent gentlemen earned great sums through cooperation with germans during the war . afterwards they walked free while the tyskert sene became hunted hydro s oil and gas activities to merge with statoil norsk hydro published 2006 12 18 accessed 2007 06 20 a b eu regulators approve statoil norsk hydro merger eu business published 2007 05 03 accessed 2007 06 20 norwegian parliament okays statoil hydro merger ocean resources published 2007 06 11 accessed 2007 06 20 qatalum at full production . qatalum . 25 september 2011 . retrieved 18 september 2015 . qatar aluminium qatalum . qatar petroleum . retrieved 18 september 2015 . norsk hydro hydro signs new long term power contract for norwegian aluminium portfolio . norsk hydro . 2016 02 23 . retrieved 2016 08 21 . external links edit official website http www.arte.tv guide de 045561 000 die akte alu v t e obx companies of norway aker solutions cermaq dnb dno international fred . olsen energy frontline gjensidige golar lng marine harvest norsk hydro orkla petroleum geo services prosafe renewable energy corporation royal caribbean cruises schibsted seadrill statoil storebrand subsea 7 telenor tgs nopec yara see also companies listed