The Touat gas project includes the development of eight gas fields located near Adrar in Algeria. The development plan for the project was submitted in June 2009. Groupement TouatGaz, a joint venture of Neptune Energy (65%) and Sonatrach (35%), was established by the two companies in March 2019 as the operator of the development.
The project is part of Sonatarch’s larger investment in Algeria, under which it plans to invest $56bn by 2022 in upstream activity including the development of the Timimoun, Reggane Nord, and Touat gas fields. The three projects are expected to boost the company’s overall gas production by approximately nine billion cubic meters (bcm) a year.
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First gas from the first phase of the project was achieved in February 2019. Phase one is expected to commence commercial export production in the first half of 2019. It will produce approximately 75,000 barrels per day of oil-equivalent (boed).
The project will have an annual production capacity of 4.5 billion standard cubic meters of gas and 630,000 barrels of condensate.
Touat gas project location
The Touat gas project is located in the Touat Production Sharing Contract (PSC), which covers an area of 1,300km² in the Basin of Sbaa.
The Touat PSC is located 1,500km south-west of Algiers, near Adrar in the Sahara Desert. It comprises ten gas fields containing proven and probable reserves of 68.5bcm of natural gas and 8.5 million barrels of condensates.
The Touat gas project covers an area of 500km² and is located 700km from the Hassi R’Mel field, which is the key supplier for the Algerian gas system.
Touat gas project development details
Appraisal and exploration activities on the field were conducted between 2003 and 2007 and included the drilling of seven wells. The data acquired during the activities were used to formulate the field development plan for the project.
The first phase of the project includes the drilling of 25 production wells and construction of a gas treatment complex and collection system. A total of 40 production wells are expected to be drilled for the project.
The gas treatment complex will be equipped with processing facilities including Siemens SGT-400 gas turbine generator sets, compressors, and dehydration units.
The project also involves the construction of a connection to the main GR5 pipeline that Sonatrach is building to transport gas from south-west Algeria to Hassi R’Mel.
Contractors involved
Técnicas Reunidas won the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract for the project in August 2013. The scope of the contract includes construction of the gas treatment plant, a new road, aircraft runway, and living quarters.
GCB was subcontracted by Técnicas Reunidas for earth movement works, while IMS Group provided drilling, project management, and logistics services for the gas processing plant.
Bentini Construction was subcontracted to supply precast concrete elements and carry out civil works including the erection of precast elements and construction of 11 buildings.
CSSI Group was contracted to carry out civil works and construct the processing facility buildings and permanent camp.
Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery was contracted to supply three SGT-400 gas turbine generator sets rated at 14.4MVA each for the gas processing facility. Actemium ICS manufactured three motor control centers for the gas turbine generator sets.
Other contractors and suppliers involved in the project are Cemp, Horta Coslada, Vantrunk International, Harinsa Group, Nexum, Ennovia, Fener Global, Posco Plantec, and Fores Engineering.
