Algeria pushes back Timimoun’s gas production date to 2019
Africa’s largest gas producer Algeria is expected to start gas production from its Timimoun field two years later than planned in 2019, with negotiations for contracts to potentially supply Europe currently underway, according to the Spanish energy firm Cepsa.
“We’re close to finishing development of the area, we’re still making more drills and developing all the surface facilities and should be in operation some time in the beginning of 2019,” said Cepsa chief executive Pedro Miro.
Discussions are currently under way to potentially take gas from Timimoun, which is expected to produce 1.6 billion cubic metres annually into Europe through the 757 kilometre Medgaz pipeline linking the North African state with Spain.
“The gas contract is being negotiated right now and to my knowledge this has not been completely defined. Cepsa is the main investor partner and partner of Sonatrach in Medgaz, which is a huge pipeline – the only one – linking directly Algeria with Europe through Spain. We built it with them, we’re the two main shareholders.
“If the possibility exists, we’d be delighted to bring this gas into Spain or into Europe,” he said.
Cepsa holds a 42 per cent per cent stake in the deepwater gas pipeline, with the remainder being held by the Algerian state oil producer Sonatrach (43 per cent) and the Spanish firm Gas Natural (15 per cent).
Sonatrach holds a 51 per cent operations stake in the Timimoun field, located in the south-west of the country, with the remaining share held by the French oil major Total (37.75 per cent) and Cepsa (11.25 per cent).
The consortium was awarded development rights to the field in 2009 with first gas planned for 2013, but the project has repeatedly missed deadlines for production.
Algeria has shown tepid signs of reviving stalled gas projects.
Sonatrach had planned to bring gas from the Reggane and Touat fields online this year.
However, last month, it announced that the Touat development project, valued at $1bn with an annual capacity of eight million cubic metres, had been pushed back to the first quarter of 2018.