London-based Neptune Energy is struggling to ramp up its 4.5bcm/y (450mn cfd) Touat gas project in Algeria’s southwest due to technical issues which have forced the firm to frequently stop and start output since it came online in September (MEES, 13 September). Neptune says it still expects to hit plateau production at the end of December but a slip into 2020 looks increasingly likely.
Touat was ready to start-up in early July but approval from Algerian regulators took longer than expected, Neptune CEO Jim House told the firm’s Q3 results call on 22 November. When Touat did finally start-up technical issues dogged output. (CONTINUED - 376 WORDS)
