Algerian state firm Sonatrach on 15 August signed a $210mn EPC deal with the energy engineering subsidiary of Chinese state giant CNPC for three gas compression trains at the Alrar field in Algeria’s Illizi basin on the Libyan border. Alrar, the Algerian portion of Libya’s Eni-operated Wafa gas condensate field, has been producing since 1984. Sonatrach says the aim is to “compensate for falling natural pressure in order to maintain the field’s production at 10mn m³/day [350mn cfd].” Start-up of the new facilities is expected in 32 months, that is to say “the end of the second quarter of 2027.”
Previous investments have looked to backfill Alrar’s 25mn m³/day processing facilities with the development of nearby ‘Tinrhert’ fields (MEES, 7 October). Having delivered Tinrhert Phase-1 in July 2022, UK contractor Petrofac says that $300mn Phase-2 was 40% complete as of end-2023. (CONTINUED - 140 WORDS)