African oil and gas firm Sonatrach has awarded a contract to UK based Amec Foster Wheeler for providing engineering services for de-bottlenecking of the Hassi R’Mel gas field, which is said to be the largest gas field in Algeria.
Situated around 550km to the south of Algiers, the field is spread across 70km area from north to south and 50km from east to west.
The contract is in line with Sonatrach’s policy which intends to operate the Hassi R’Mel gas field well in the future and use it to turn the North African country into a major exporter of gas globally.
Engineering design services at the site will include a major flow assurance exercise, for which Amec Foster Wheeler will deploy its proprietary software.
The software will help in identification of future bottlenecks in the field gathering network.
The firm will also be responsible for detailed pipeline design, compression studies and multi-disciplined specification of additional infrastructure at the site to assure uninterrupted production of gas.
Amec Foster Wheeler Asia, Middle East, Africa and Southern Europe group president Roberto Penno said: “We are delighted to be working with Sonatrach again on this major development using our considerable upstream and pipelines expertise, and hope to further build the relationship by supporting them with their future plans in the region.”