Sonatrach Awards $148 Million EPC Contract for Power Plant Expansion

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Algerian state-owned energy company, Sonatrach SpA (Hydra), awarded a $148 million engineering, procurement and construction contract to an Italian consortium consisting of Bonatti SpA (Parma, Italy), a contractor for civil works and mechanical erections, and Gavazzi Impianti SpA (Milan, Italy) for an expansion project of the Alrar power plant.

The contract includes the addition of three turbo-alternators with a capacity of 18 megawatts (MW) each at the site and the development of a substation with a capacity of 66 kilovolts (kV). The project is being undertaken to provide power to treatment plants in the nearby Alrar gas field and neighboring areas. The expansion is scheduled to be completed within 27 months.

Sonatrach's plans to expand the Alrar power plant come in the wake of its decision to increase gas exports from the present 62 billion cubic meters per year to 77.5 billion cubic meters per year by 2009 and to 85 billion cubic meters per year by 2012. The firm has embarked on a four-year expansion program, lasting until 2012 and entailing an investment of $45 billion. Sonatrach plans to boost foreign operations to generate one third of its income by 2015.

Sonatrach discovered the Alrar gas field in 1980. The field is estimated to have recoverable reserves of 132 billion cubic meters of wet gas. The gas processing and recycling unit at Alrar was commissioned in 1985 and had a processing capacity of 18.5 million cubic meters per day. Following an expansion project in February 1993, the facility now has a production capacity of 24.7 million cubic meters per day of dry gas, 4,848 tons per day of condensate, and 2,924 tons per day of liquefied petroleum gas.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.