Eni to Help with Algeria Gas Pipe
Eni has agreed to develop a gas pipeline in southern Algeria, according to state news agency APS which said it was included in one of three agreements signed by Eni April 17 with Algerian state Sonatrach.
The gas pipeline will link Eni’s two producing oil fields in the Berkine basin, Lajmat Bir Roud (BRL) and Menzel Lejmat Est (MLE), said APS, enabling a surplus of 7mn m3/d gas (2.55bn m3/yr) to be produced. Pipelay by a Sonatrach subsidiary will start this year and be completed in 2020, it added. In early 2013, Eni first announced it had started gas production at MLE.
The two other Eni-Sonatrach agreements related to cost savings, and research & development. All three accords were signed during a scientific/technical fair in the western city of Oran.
Eni’s statement issued April 17 did not mention the gas pipeline project, saying only that the deals would “lead to the production of new gas reserves through the use and optimisation of existing infrastructures.” It also said the three agreements aimed at "strengthening the integration between the two companies in jointly operated activities in the country” and “extending their historic partnership.”
The Italian company has been present in Algeria since 1981 and says its net production there is 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day, making it the main international player in the country. Eni is also Sonatrach's largest single gas offtaker, buying for its Italian market.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi (left) and his Sonatrach counterpart Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, after signing the three agreements in Oran, April 17 2018 (Photo credit: Eni / Twitter)