First gas from Algeria’s flagship 9bcm/year Southwest gas Project (SWGP) will flow at the end of 2016 at the earliest, a year later than the previous target. This will further tighten Algeria’s gas supply situation. Gaz de France Suez (GdF), operator of the 4.5bcm/y Touat development says that first gas is not now expected before “end 2016.” Touat is the furthest forward of the three developments that constitute the 9bcm/y SWGP phase 1 (see table). Development began earlier this year with a total of 41 wells, of which 24 were to be drilled before first production. Construction of gas processing facilities will begin in 2014, GdF says. GdF is operator with 49% whilst state firm Sonatrach has its customary 51% stake. However GdF is responsible for almost two-thirds (65%) of total $3bn-plus estimated development costs.
Meanwhile, the Repsol-led 2.9bcm/y Reggane Nord development has seen its anticipated start-up date pushed back to end-2016, according to a 14 November presentation by Germany’s RWE-Dea, which has a 19.5% stake. This compares to the mid-2016 target in the development plan approved at the start of the year (MEES, 6 February). Repsol will not begin drilling the first of a planned 104 development wells until 2015, a company source tells MEES. (CONTINUED - 839 WORDS)
