Page 15 - DMEA Week 08 2022

DMEA NEWS IN BRIEF DMEA

the LNG plant’s export capacity, Sonatrach R’Mel fields and is capable of turning out 4mn 14 turbines in February. It opted to repair
explained. Once the new facility is completed, tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG. It is significantly the turbine rather than replace it, as the
it said, Skikda LNG will be in a position to smaller than Algeria’s other gas liquefaction replacement process would have kept the
finish loading and dispatch tankers more plant – Arzew LNG, which has 13 production Skikda facility out of production for 18
quickly. trains capable of turning out around 20.8mn months.
The contract appears to have been drawn tpy of LNG. It also sought to compensate for the loss of
up within the context of a document that Despite Skikda LNG’s relatively small size, the plant’s capacity by increasing the volume
Sonatrach and Sinopec signed last year on Sonatrach’s decision to keep the plant off line of LNG exported from the Arzew plant.
expanding co-operation in a number of for more than half of 2020 had a significant Even so, the extension of the maintenance
areas, including LNG, according to LNG impact on Algeria’s LNG sector. The NOC programme caused Algeria’s LNG exports to
Prime. That document, a memorandum of powered the facility down in January 2020 drop to 10.9mn tonnes in 2020, equivalent
understanding (MoU), was inked in May for a scheduled two-month maintenance to just 43% of the combined 25.3 tpy export
2021. programme and then extended the closure capacity of the Skikda and Arzew plants.
The Skikda LNG plant, located on Algeria’s until July of the same year, following the NEWSBASE
northern coast, processes gas from the Hassi discovery of damage to one of the plant’s

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