Sonatrach, an energy company in Algeria, will invest $3.48 billion in establishing new gas pipelines throughout the country to improve capacity of existing pipeline network, its interim CEO said in a conference on gas industry held in the western province of Oran.
He added that the new gas pipelines under construction will be ready by July 2016, and will help deliver some 20 billion cubic meters annually.
The country has four main gas pipelines near the fields of Berkine, Illizi, Reggane and Timimoun in the desert. The country also runs 87 platforms and 25 fracturing units.
The Minister for Energy, Youcef Yousfi, chaired the opening ceremony of the conference. It was attended by local and international experts, among them the U.S Undersecretary of state at the Department of energy Christopher smith. Earlier in July this year, the government had announced an intention to invest in six new gas plants in the next three years to produce a capacity of 74million Cubic metres per day.
