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Monday, September 17, 2018
Sonatrach is looking to boost natural gas exports through its Medgaz export pipeline. The Algerian state-run firm’s CEO, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour said that it wants to expand its 8 Bcm/year capacity pipeline while also maintaining supplies through the GME link via Morocco.
The feedstock for the boost in exports will come from a number of new gas projects that will be brought onstream in the coming years.
Sonatrach began construction work last week on a new 200-km pipeline that can divert gas away from the GME pipeline into Medgaz, but Ould Kaddour said this did not necessarily mean transit via Morocco would cease — rather that it would give the company more flexibility and optionality in its exports to Spain.
The new pipeline will run from El-Aricha on the border between Algeria and Morocco to Beni-Saf, the starting point of the Medgaz pipeline, creating a new “loop” between the export lines. In order to be able to move gas in that direction, however, the capacity of Medgaz will also need to be expanded.
“One of our objectives is to continue to produce more gas and to transport more gas to Europe and in particular to Spain,” the CEO said speaking after the launch ceremony of the new El Aricha-Beni Saf pipeline. “We are currently transporting 8 Bcm/year through Medgaz and we are putting in place a turbo-compressor to increase it to 10 Bcm/year,” he said.
According to a Sonatrach engineering source, with the addition of more turbo-compressors, the Medgaz capacity could then be further expanded to 16 Bcm/year by 2020.
The new link is expected to be completed by September 2020.
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