Algeria’s Sonatrach invests $2 billion into Hassi Rmel gas field

Algeria’s state-owned oil firm, Sonatrach, announced on November 6, 2017, investments totaling $2 billion to maintain production levels at the country’s largest gas field.

Sonatrach´s CEO Abdelmoumene Ould Kaddour told reporters «the objective is to maintain the 190 million cubic meter per day (MMcm/d) output for the next 10 years».

The onshore Hassi Rmel gas field, located south of Algiers, produces between 190 and 210 MMcm/d, and without new investments in the field’s compression facilities, production was bound to decline.

Algeria, a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter to Europe, has struggled to attract foreign upstream investment to develop greenfield projects and increase existing production.

The project, to be carried out by the Japanese firm JGC, is expected to come online in 2020.

«Delays are unacceptable», Kaddour said.