Sonatrach Skikda LNG Project, Algeria

The Sonatrach Skikda LNG plant and refinery (GL-1K complex), located 500km east of Algiers, have been in production since the early 1970s.

The plant, which is owned and operated by Sonatrach – Algeria's state-owned oil and gas company – had grown to six trains by the 1990s with the last of these commissioned in 1981. The trains all received upgrades in the 1990s to bring them up to required specifications and the plant was capable of producing 7.68MMt/y (million metric tonnes per year) of LNG.

In April 2004, during a routine boiler maintenance operation (on train 40) which went disastrously wrong due to insufficient purging of the boiler, a massive explosion caused three of the six trains to be totally destroyed, one to be badly damaged and 26 workers to be killed along with 74 injured.

The refinery (335,000bpd capacity) and associated LNG plant were closed and investigations were carried out (new plant designs have eliminated the need for boilers entirely, replacing them with more efficient gas-fuelled turbines and compressors).

The plant's lucrative LNG supply contracts were transferred to other suppliers or left to stand due to there being a mild winter and the demand was not as great as expected (production declined by 76% during 2004).

Three of the six trains (20, 30 and 40) were completely destroyed, but the 10, 5P and 6P trains were brought back into production in November 2004. With three trains totally destroyed it was decided they should be replaced by one larger train that would replace their total capacity.

LNG plant reconstruction

In January 2007 the contract for the 'demolition and the recovery of the remains' of the Skikda petrochemical complex's three gas liquefaction trains was signed with Delair Navarra.

KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root International Inc) was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in March 2007 for the new LNG train at Skikda. The contract has an approximate value of $2.8bn. In addition to performing the EPC work for the 4.5MMt/y LNG train along with associated LPG and condensate recovery, KBR will execute the pre-commissioning and commissioning portion of the contract.

Work began in July 2007 and will be executed in Houston prior to moving to the Skikda site later in the year. In June 2005 a partnership of SNC Lavalin of Canada and Black & Veatch of the US was awarded a five-year project management consultancy (PMC) contract for the construction of the new LNG train at Skikda. The partnership will supervise the EPC contract on the 4.5MMt/y train. In June 2008 Egypt-based Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) was awarded two construction contracts by KBR for civil engineering works and piling installation for the new LNG train in Skikda. The contract represents one of the first packages of the Skikda LNG rebuilding program. The civil construction contract for the new LNG train is expected to be complete in approximately 14 months (August 2009).In addition the OCI/Trevi SpA joint venture is responsible for the execution of the piling and installation work, which is expected to be complete in approximately 10 months.

Dr. Abdelhafid Feghouli, the Sonatrach Downstream executive vice president, said: "The new LNG train at Skikda will enable Sonatrach to increase and recapture its LNG production. This project award also demonstrates our commitment to the LNG business and to the Skikda community."

Historical background

The Skikda LNG complex is located on a 92ha site in Skikda, Algeria. Gas is sourced from the Hassi R'mel fields, which also supply the Bethioua and Arzew plants.

Trains 10, 20, 30 and 40 were located parallel to one another east of the LNG storage area consisting of five tanks. The two remaining units, known as trains 5P and 6P, were situated on the west side of the storage tanks and thus were not affected by the explosion or the subsequent fire.

Skikda was built in three phases with the first three trains (units 10, 20 and 30) starting up in 1971 and 1973. These were built by Technip of France and used the TEAL liquefaction process.

Train 40, which was brought on-line in 1981 after a six-year delay, was built by Prichard Rhodes and represented Skikda's second phase development. While it is directly adjacent to train 30 and used the utility systems installed in the first phase, train 40 was based on Prichard's PRICO technology.

Trains 5P and 6P also use the PRICO process and were also built by Prichard Rhodes. These two units began operating in 1981, some three to four years later than originally planned.

Trains 10, 20, 30 and 40 each had a design capacity of about 1.1Bcm/y (0.85MMt/y). In contrast, trains 5P and 6P are larger with a design capacity of some 1.64Bm³/y (1.25MMt/y) each. All six trains at Skikda were revamped as part of a modernisation programme completed in the late 1990s.