Sonatrach Awards Saipem Hassi Messaoud Contract
Italian oil services firm Saipem announced on 20 September that Algeria’s Sonatrach had awarded it the construction contract for a gas-oil separation plant at Hassi Messaoud. Following the recent launch of a new upstream bidding round and the approval of PetroCeltic’s drilling program, the Saipem award is further proof that state-owned Sonatrach’s new management is beginning to get Algeria’s oil sector into gear after months of inactivity in the wake of the corruption investigation, which saw the firm’s CEO and almost all its vice-presidents removed from their posts (MEES, 13 September).
The contract, known as LDHP, “encompasses the engineering, procurement and construction of an oil-gas separation plant and a gathering system made up of manifolds and pipelines for a total length of approximately 140km,” Saipem said. “The project will allow the client to complete the original scope of the the LPG-LDHP initiative, which includes the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) processing facility that Saipem is currently building in Hassi Messaoud,” it continued.
Copyright MEES 2010.
