Algeria’s state-owned company Sonatrach has resumed production from its Skikda LNG export facility on July 16.
This follows maintenance work which includes the repair of a damaged turbine, after an incident occurred on February 21. The incident took place while the Skikda plant was shut by the state-owned company in mid-December 2019 for two months of scheduled maintenance works, after the completion of 85% of maintenance activities at the plant.
According to Sonatrach, the state-owned company restored and replaced some damaged parts on one of 14 gas turbines at Skikda’s 4.5 mtpa mega LNG train. This prevented delaying the restart, which would have been for a period of more than 16 months, had the company replaced the entire turbine.
Algeria’s LNG output and exports have been unaffected during the maintenance since production has been boosted at the company’s Arzew terminal.
Data from the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers, GIIGNL, shows that Algeria, the world’s first LNG producer, presently has about 25.3 mtpa operational LNG export capacity at Arzew and Skikda.
However, only 12.23 million tons have been exported by the country last year, where, according to the data, fuel has been sent mainly to France, Italy, and Turkey.