Sonatrach ‘Keeps In Salah Flowing’
Algerian state-owned Sonatrach told the state news agency APS on March 22 it continues to operate the In Salah gas plant at Krechna that was targeted by rocket-propelled grenades four days earlier.
In Salah production had been increased to 19.5mn m3/d – equivalent to 7.1bn m3 – compared to 18mn m3/d prior to the attack, said Sonatrach, adding that it had restarted production there at midnight on the evening of March 18 after making safety checks.
In Amenas gas production has moreover been raised to 15mn m3/d – equivalent to 5.5bn m3 – from a previous level of 13.5mn m3/d, Sonatrach added.
Sonatrach’s partners, BP and Statoil, announced on March 21 they were pulling out staff from the two gas complexes for at least two weeks.
Three weeks ago Sonatrach said that in April it would restart the In Amenas third gas process train (T3), damaged and shut since an Islamist attack on the complex three years ago killed 40 staff. The APS report is unclear whether T3 has already reopened, although the three In Amenas trains together, if fully operational, would have a combined processing capacity of up to 9bn m3/y.
Separately APS reported on March 22 that Sonatrach and its Chinese and Thai partners CNOOC and PTTEP had drilled the well, Rhourde Ez Zita-1 bis, as part of their joint exploration of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz permit, test-flowing 261 b/d. The permit is in the Berkine basin, close to In Amenas, and not far from Algeria's eastern border with Libya.
Mark Smedley