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Algeria’s 2nd largest Oil field shut down

Affected by an incident overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the El Merk field in the Berkine Basin, the second largest hydrocarbon field in Algeria, after Hassi Messaoud, is shut down for an indefinite period.

The decision was taken and announced by Energy Minister Abdelmadjid Attar, who visited the scene on Friday.

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“I attach great importance to the issue of the security of the facilities. Neither should we rush to its resumption with a view to resuming production, “ordered Attar, adding that production from this site will be” offset “by other fields.

The El Merk field will remain closed until repairs are made to the blazing facility.

The incident started on Wednesday shortly after 8:00 p.m. at the furnace of the 2nd train at the field processing center, and it took several hours for response teams to extinguish the fire. The blaze was brought under control around 4 a.m., according to the official agency report.

The fire was detected thanks to the “vigilance of an operator who noticed around 8:17 pm smoke coming out of the oven of train 2 followed by a jet of flames that the alert was given to activate the emergency stop of the field” , according to the briefing provided on site to Mr. Attar, who was accompanied by the CEO of Sonatrach Tewfik Hakkar. The origin of the fire has not yet been identified.

Attar asked Sonatrach to carry out an assessment of the condition of the furnace affected by the fire and “not to restart it until it is fully repaired or replaced if necessary”.

He insisted on the role of training in controlling industrial risks and preserving oil installations. He also stressed the need to improve the information and alert system of the Sonatrach group, which is the third major incident affecting its oil facilities in less than two months.

In early September, an incident broke out after oil leaks from an oil pipeline passing through the wilaya of El Oued. On October 15, the Ministry of Energy reported oil leaks from the same pipeline in the commune of Ghamra, 20 km from the city of Touggourt, in south-eastern Algeria.

Operated by Sonatrach in partnership with Anadarko, Total and Eni, the El Merk field consists of two crude and condensate processing trains with a capacity of 63,500 barrels per day, an LPG processing train of 30,000 Bbl / d.

The total crude storage capacity is 320,000 barrels (50,000m3) and that of condensate storage is 24,000m3.

The shutdown of the El Merck field will worsen the financial difficulties of Sonatrach, which faces lower oil prices, and lower activity due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, the Ministry of Energy estimated Sonatrach’s shortfall at $ 10 billion until the end of September 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic, with a 41% drop in its export turnover.

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