Page 8 - GLNG Week 25 2021

GLNG AFRICA GLNG

Problem with gas turbine forces

shutdown at Skikda LNG plant

PROJECTS & SONATRACH, the national oil company more than half of 2020, powering down in Jan-
COMPANIES (NOC) of Algeria, reported at the weekend that uary for a scheduled two-month maintenance
it had taken the Skikda LNG plant offline on programme and then extending the closure until
June 11. July following the discovery of damage to one of
In a statement, Sonatrach attributed the shut- the plant’s 14 turbines in February.
down to technical problems. “A technical issue Sonatrach opted last year to repair the tur-
occurred on June 11 at the Skikda LNG complex bine rather than replace it, as the replacement
and led to the shutdown of this complex,” it said. process would have kept the Skikda facility out
It then described the problem as “a sudden fail- of production for 18 months. It also sought to
ure of a gas turbine control mechanism”, but did compensate for the loss of the plant’s capacity
not elaborate. by increasing the volume of LNG exported from
For the time being, the plant will remain Arzew, the site of another gas liquefaction plant.
offline so that the NOC can carry out a thor- Even so, the extension of the maintenance pro-
ough inspection of the plant and carry out any gramme caused Algeria’s LNG exports to drop
necessary repairs, the statement said. It did not to 10.9mn tonnes in 2020, equivalent to just 43%
speculate as to when the facility, which processes of the 25.3 tpy operational export capacity of the
gas from the Hassi R’Mel fields, might resume Skikda and Arzew plants.
operations. According to S&P Global Platts, Algeria has
The Skikda plant, located on Algeria’s north- already exported some 6.22mn tonnes of LNG so
ern coast, is capable of turning out 4mn tonnes far in 2021. This is equivalent to 50% of the coun-
per year (tpy) of LNG. It remained offline for try’s total nameplate capacity, Platts reported.™

Eni says Coral South LNG is still

scheduled for launch in 2022

PROJECTS & ITALY’S Eni says it is on track to launch the it will also employ a floating LNG (FLNG) plant
COMPANIES Coral South LNG project offshore Mozambique with a capacity of 3.4mn tonnes per year (tpy).
next year, despite the violence and civil unrest This facility is slated to become the first LNG
that has slowed down TotalEnergies’ plans for plant ever to work in an ultra-deepwater zone.
development of a nearby field. Total, meanwhile, has opted to produce gas
A spokesperson for the Italian major told offshore and send its production to an onshore
S&P Global Platts earlier this week that Eni liquefaction plant on the Afungi Peninsula. This
aimed to begin extracting and processing gas choice has left it vulnerable to attacks carried out
from the Coral section of the offshore block by Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamo (ASWJ), an Islamist
known as Area 4 in 2022, as previously antici- group that mounted a violent campaign to seize
pated. The project’s timeline has not changed as control of Cabo Delgado in 2017.
a result of events in Mozambique’s northernmost Eni was the first international oil company
province of Cabo Delgado, which lies directly to (IOC) to sign on to a major LNG scheme in
the west of Area 4 and the other offshore blocks Mozambique. It discovered the Coral field at
slated for development within the framework of Area 4 in 2012 and made an FID in favour of
large-scale LNG projects, she said. going forward with the $10bn Coral South LNG
“We confirm that so far, the violence in the project in 2017. It has said it intends to drill six
north of Mozambique has not affected the Coral development wells in 2,000-metre-deep water to
South project timeline, and we confirm startup provide feedstock for the FLNG.
in 2022 as per [the] schedule,” the spokesperson The shareholders in the project are Mozam-
said, without commenting further. bique Rovuma Venture (MRV), a joint venture
Eni has not had to follow TotalEnergies in sus- owned by Eni (the operator), ExxonMobil
pending work in Mozambique because all opera- (US) and China National Petroleum Corp.
tions related to the Coral South project are being (CNPC); Galp (Portugal); KOGAS (South
carried out offshore. The Italian company will Korea), and ENH, Mozambique’s national oil
not just be using offshore facilities to extract gas; company (NOC).™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 25•June•2021