Norsk Hydro ASA said Monday it has signed a deal to invest US$1.5 billion (¤1.1 billion) in a new aluminum smelting plant in Qatar to be operated by Qatar Petroleum. The agreement calls for the Norwegian company's help in developing the plant, which will have an estimated annual output of some 570,000 metric tons (628,317 tons) when it starts operations in 2009. The deal was signed Sunday by Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Qatar's energy minister and chairman of Qatar Petroleum, and Eivind Reiten, Hydro president and chief executive.