Sonatrach restarts Skikda LNG plant

Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach said it has resumed production from its Skikda LNG export plant following maintenance works that included repairing a damaged turbine.

Operations resumed at the Skikda LNG export facility on July 16.

Sonatrach said in statement on Tuesday that Algeria’s LNG output and exports were not affected during the maintenance as the company boosted production at its Arzew terminal.

The state-owned firm shut the Skikda plant in mid-December 2019 for some two months of planned maintenance works.

However, after completing some 85 percent of maintenance activities at the plant, an incident occurred on February 21, Sonatrach said.

According to Sonatrach, the firm had to repair and replace some damaged parts on one of the 14 gas turbines at Skikda’s 4.5 mtpa mega LNG train.

The company said replacing the entire turbine would have resulted in delaying the restart for more than 16 months.

Algeria became the world’s first LNG producer in 1964 when the Arzew facility came online.

According to GIIGNL data, Algeria has currently about 25.3 mtpa operational LNG export capacity at Arzew and Skikda.

But the country only exported 12.23 million tonnes during last year sending the fuel mainly to France, Italy and Turkey, the data shows.