Sonatrach, Algeria’s oil and gas company has chosen ABB to deliver a $100 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pumping station in the Hassi Messaoud District to increase the capacity of LR1 pipeline in Algeria.
The new pumping station is part of an expansion project to add a second LPG pipeline between Haoud El Hamra and Hassi R’Mel in order to boost pipeline transportation capacity from 4.5 million tons a year to 11 million tons a year. Hassi R’Mel is Algeria’s largest gas field and the hub of the country’s natural gas transport network. From Hassi R’Mel the gas is transported by pipeline to terminals on the Mediterranean coast for export to Europe or for processing into liquefied natural gas.
ABB is responsible for design, engineering, procurement, commissioning and start-up. Construction and installation will be performed by, Sarpi, a 50% Joint Venture company owned by ABB and Sonatrach.
ABB will also supply a complete LPG pumping station including all the electrical, piping and mechanical equipment. The solution encompasses a broad range of ABB power and automation products and systems including switchgear, transformers, motors, variable speed drive systems, instrumentation, distributed control and safety systems, as well as a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for the new 400 km pipeline. The plant is scheduled for completion by March 2015.
ABB has a long and successful track record for oil and gas plants in Algeria. Other EPC projects that ABB is currently executing in Algeria include the field infrastructure for the El Merk oil and gas fields, a contract worth $650 million and one of the largest EPC contracts in ABB’s history, a gas flaring elimination project at Haoud Berkaoui, and the delivery of utilities, storage and export facilities for the central processing plant at Menzel Ledjmet East in the Berkine Basin.